HP Photosmart A630 With Touchscreen For Portable Photo Editing

A fresh bevy of photo printers out of HP today, with the emphasis on increasing flexibility and ease of use even when away from computer editing software.  The Photosmart A630 and Photosmart A530 both use 5 x 7-inch photo paper and can be outfitted with HP's Bluetooth dongle for wireless printing from cellphones and other devices.  The A630 also has the largest touchscreen currently available on a portable photo printer, measuring in at 4.8-inches.

The A530 comes with a selection of borders and clip art that can be added to photos before printing; the A630 builds on that with more than 300 ways to edit, draw, touch-up and customize images.  Both the Photosmart A630 and A530 Compact Photo Printers are expected to be available in August, priced at $149 and $99 respectively.

HP also announced their attempt to slim down the number of ink cartridges necessary for full-color photo prints in their desktop range.  Using five cartridges rather than the six previously required, the system includes four HP 564 dye-ink cartridges in cyan, magenta, yellow and photo black for vivid color and black-and-white lab-quality photos. The fifth cartridge contains black pigment ink for laser-quality black text on plain paper and enhanced document quality when printing on ColorLok paper.

The new system is featured on the HP Photosmart D5460 Printer, priced at $99 and available now.  It includes a 1.5-inch color display, memory card slots, an auto-engaging photo tray and the ability to print photos and text directly onto CDs and DVDs.