CNET editors' review
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CNET editors' rating:
stars
Very good
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 11/02/2006
The Photosmart D7360 boasts four memory card slots that accept Compact Flash, Memory Stick, MicroDrive, MultiMediaCard, Secure Digital, and xD-Picture cards. If you want to print from a PictBridge camera or a USB thumbdrive, you can avail yourself of the USB port on the front. Additionally, you can print from an iPod that can store photos, which is a feature we haven't seen on another printer. If you want to print wirelessly from a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone, you'll have to purchase the optional Bluetooth adapter to use with the USB port.
The Photosmart D7360 employs HP's standard, single-cassette input/output tray. The input tray pulls out for filling, has adjustable paper guides, and can hold as many as 100 sheets of regular paper. Immediately above the input tray, a dedicated 4x6 photo paper tray holds about 20 sheets of photo paper and will automatically engage if you choose 4x6 prints. Sitting above both input trays is the output tray, with its extendable paper keeper. This printer lacks a straight pass-through, which is useful when printing on heavier paper stock such as postcards.
To access the ink tanks, simply lift the front of the printer. The Photosmart D7360 employs a six-color system with individual ink tanks, which is great for reducing waste and saving money. The 10mL black tank costs $18 to replace, while the 4mL color tanks cost $10 each. HP estimates that 4x6 photo prints can cost as little at 24 cents if you use their photo value pack, and 8.5x11 text prints should cost around 2.7 cents per page. Both numbers are at the low end of inkjet per-page costs.
For PC-free printing, the HP Photosmart C7360 offers a nice range of options for the photo hobbyist. From the main screen, select View & Print. If you're new to PC-free printing, the C7360's wizard will guide you through the process of choosing paper size and pictures, making edits such as cropping or adding color effects, and finally, printing. If you're familiar with the process, you can jump straight to printing photos with menu options that include Enlargement, 4x6, and Print All. If you choose 4x6 or Enlargement, you'll first be prompted to pick paper size and print size, which determines layout. From here, you can click through the photos on your card to select them; simply touch the screen to select. (If you want to scan through the photos quickly, you can hit Zoom Out to get a four-image view.) Each image has touch-sensitive forward and back icons for navigating, a house icon that takes you to the top menu, and a checkbox that shows whether you've selected a photo. Once you've picked the image, additional icons appear that let you change the number of copies or edit the photo.Editing options include Crop, Rotate, Brightness, Color Effects (Sepia, Antique, or Black-and-White), and Frame. The Frame option, with six frame designs in 15 colors, lets you print a border around the image. Image improvement comes in the form of red-eye reduction and the Photo Fix button. We printed images with Photo Fix both on and off, and we didn't see much difference. We'd prefer more granular control over image settings, such as sharpness and saturation, on the printer itself, but you can find some of those controls in HP's bundled Photosmart Premier software.
If you choose Print All, you're again prompted to select paper size. If you select 4x6 or 5x7, the print job starts immediately: all the images on the card will be borderless. However, we've been unsuccessful so far at printing a bordered 4x6 or 5x7 photo on this machine, a shortcoming that leaves us befuddled. (You can print bordered photos by printing from a PC, either through HP's bundled software programs or your preferred software.) If you select 8.5x11, you can select the photo size: either an index print with 63 images per sheet, four 3.5x5 prints, three 4x6 prints, two 5x7s, one 8x10, or one 8.5x11. The index sheet prints each image's file name and number, which makes it a handy reference as you're clicking through the contents of a large memory card. Finally, a Projects tab takes you to options such as Panorama prints (4x12 prints), CD/DVD tattoo prints on special sticky paper, wallet prints, and passport photos.
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