Consumer level home printers these days have just about every feature imaginable. Touch screen, professional photo printing, scanning, copying, faxing, wireless connection, and etc. But just when you think they've reached a point where innovation would come as some clever rehash of a current feature, HP announces new printers that bring back that innovative and creative spark.
HP unveiled a new series of touch screen printers, dubbed the HP Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web, that are directly connected to the internet and can bypass the need to be on a PC. That's innovative by itself, but HP took this one step further with the HP Apps Studio and partnered with companies like USA Today, Google, Fandango, Coupons.com, DreamWorks Animation, Nickelodeon, Web Sudoku and Weathernews Inc. Each one of these partnerships has an associated app available for use on the printer. It gives you easy access to content on the web via the touch screen. Google maps, coupons, kid's activities, movie tickets, recipes, and more will all be available with a few touches of the screen.
Apps Available at Launch
HP indicated that a number of useful apps will be available at launch. These include Google Maps and Calendars that have the ability to print directions and your weekly schedule with ease.
USATODAY.com will have news covered and will deliver real-time updates that are customized according to your interests. This can printed in daily, weekly, or monthly news.
Coupons.com will serve as the fix for your frugal tendencies. Print off those coupons and save, save, save.
Fandango needs no introduction and will be there to immediately serve your online movie ticket buying needs.
Parents will be able to print off coloring pages and templates thanks to DreamWorks Animations and Nickelodeon. DreamWorks Animation will provide the ability to view movie trailers. Nickelodeon will include color-ins, word finds, mazes and more from popular shows like "Dora the Explorer", "Spongebob SquarePants", and "iCarly."
Rounding out the last two apps will be Weathernews Inc., which will provide weekly forecasts and travel planning, and Web Sudoku for quick brain teasers on the go.
Price and Features
The HP Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web will retail for a target price of $399. The price is due to the truly all-in-one nature of the printer. It prints, faxes, copies, scans, and produces high quality text and photo documents. It also has a cornucopia of wireless connectivity options that include connecting to Wi-Fi enabled PCs, Bluetooth devices, Apple iPhone and Apple iPod Touch using HP iPrint Photo. The printer also conveniently prints two-sided documents automatically.
Impressions
The only problem that I foresee with this clearly innovative product is the 4.33 inch touchscreen. I realize that it the largest touchscreen on the all-in-one injet printer market, but that's still roughly the size of my Garmin GPS screen. I'll wait until I see it to pass judgment completely, but it seems odd that users would forgo a large computer screen and keyboard to watch or receive some of the content on their printer directly. This would be especially true for watching trailers via DreamWorks Animation's app. The 4.33" screen may seem too small for something like that. Other than that criticism, I feel like the apps serving things that people want at a moment's notice will be quite popular. Just knowing that I can quickly grab a movie ticket or a map could save me a few precious minutes to arrive to my movie or destination on time.
For more info:
HP News Release
Comments