Recommendations are independently chosen by Reviewed's editors. Purchases made through the links below may earn us and our publishing partners a commission.
*
August 20, 2007* – Canon USA today released, along with several other printers, two new single-function inkjet printers and a compact photo printer. The Pixma iP3500 and iP4500 single-function printers are intended as both document and photo printers, and they will sell for $79 and $129, respectively. Canon’s new compact photo printer, the Pixma mini320, is the first in the company’s compact printer line to be able to print 5-by-7-inch photos. The mini320 also features Canon’s popular Easy Scroll-Wheel menu navigator, memory card slots, a 2.5-inch LCD display, and a carrying handle. This printer will sell for $179. All of these printers will feature Canon’s new Quick Start feature, which has reduced warm-up time to just a few seconds, making immediate printing possible. Also new on these models is Auto Image Fix, a software feature which analyzes the images input to the printer and corrects them for lighting and color. The Pixma mini320 features Canon’s handy Easy Scroll-Wheel, which is improved this year by adding a go-to feature, taking the user directly to the selected function, navigated to via the 2.5-inch LCD screen. A carrying handle aids portability, and memory card slots and PictBridge connection allow PC-free printing. The mini320 prints from credit-card-sized up to 5-by-7-inch photos at a maximum resolution of 9600 dpi, using one four-color cartridge via one-picoliter droplets. Canon reports print speeds of as little as 40 seconds for 4-by-6-inch photos and 52 seconds for 5-by-7-inch photos. Wireless connectivity via IrDA is standard, while Bluetooth is optional. An optional battery can be purchased for $79.99 to make the printer fully portable. The iP4500 and iP3500 printers are geared toward document and photo printing. Both models allow for PictBridge compatibility. With the iP4500, one-picoliter droplets, 9600 dpi resolution, and five individual colors (pigment black, black, cyan, magenta, and yellow) promise good potential print quality. This higher-end model also features fast print speeds, with 31 pages per minute (ppm) black text, 24 ppm color documents, and 21 second photos. The automatic duplexing feature makes it easy to print two-sided documents, thereby saving paper. The iP3500 sells for a more economical $79, and features 4800-dpi resolution and two-picoliter droplets, via four individual colors (pigment black, cyan, magenta, and yellow). Documents print in 25 ppm for black text and 17 ppm for color documents. Photos print as fast as 47 seconds. While there is no automatic duplexing feature, the iP3500 has dual paper paths so users can keep two different kinds of paper in the printer at one time. All three printers are available now at retailers.