The Photosmart 6510 e-All-in-one is a 3-in-1 multifunction inkjet printer designed for individual consumers wishing to print photos and office documents. Like any self-respecting Photosmart e-All-in-one, it comes with ePrint, AirPrint (for the Apple environment) and Google Print, all of which are required for printing from a mobile device (smartphone, tablet) connected to the Internet. What’s more, various useful applications are loaded onto it to enable you to print content straight from the printer’s touchscreen, without necessarily having to use a computer.
These features were already included in the old range but it has to be said, we aren’t yet tired of what are innovative and original solutions. The printer has its own, customisable email address. To print from elsewhere, all you have to do is send a file or a photo by email to the printer’s address. The user can define the admin settings to restrict usage and only give print authorisation to people of your choice.
HP has clearly put its faith in ease of use and mobility, with compatibility for a maximum of devices. Has it achieved its goals?
Aesthetically, the 6510 looks a lot like the Photosmart Plus (210a), but thinner (43.6 x 38.1 x 16.1 cm and weighing 5 Kg). The touchscreen, which looks rather like an iPhone, allows you to pilot the machine to print, scan and copy and gives you access to applications via wi-fi. The double paper loader (photo and ordinary paper) facilitates switching between photo prints (10 x 15 cm) and office documents. Users who have a Snapfish account (HP owned), will be able to access their account from the printer after entering their login and password on the touchscreen. The inclusion of a card reader also allows you to print photos straight from the printer. You can rotate, reframe and retouch your photo, as well as adding a frame and setting brightness and colour effects (sepia, antique B &W etc).
HP have gone the extra mile when it comes to helping you out with how to use this model. A short tutorial video illustrates how to set the printer up and any other procedures to be carried out. Should you have any problems with it, a message will inform you where the issue lies, show an explanatory video, offer to resolve it and let you know how successful the operation has been.
The menu is pared down and, for added clarity, has a simple default configuration. There's plenty of functionality all the same and you can access the extra features from the customise option.
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The touchscreen in the form of an iPhone
Rapid both for office documents and photo prints, the 6510 is faster than the Photosmart Plus (210a) which manages 10 pages per minute colour and 13 ppm black & white and a good deal faster than the Epson Stylus SX440W, which, under the same conditions, prints at 4 and 8 pages per minute. As always, using the double-sided feature brings down the number of pages per minute. Here you’ll get 4 ppm for either colour or black and white.
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While HP printers are strong when it comes to hardware and connectivity, they lag in terms of quality. The main problem that undermines legibility is however still the same: the size of droplets. Our test graph (enlarged by three on the image below) shows this well. Obviously droplets are not as big at normal size. Apart from this, the shading, colour accuracy and character sharpness are all good.
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The quality of photo prints suffers from the same issue. Apart from the droplets, if you examine them more closely you’ll see that the black & white prints cruelly lack depth. While the results are okay, we’re a long way off the sort of quality you get on the Canon Pixma MG6250 (which has six cartridges compared to four here!).
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The scanner is also moulded to be intuitive but with multiple functionality. The moto: keep it simple but don’t forget to make advanced tools available. The first menu is for the main settings: type of document, resolution and format. Rotation, brightness and contrast settings can all be adjusted here. Scanning a document at 300 dpi takes 14 seconds, which is fine. Inevitably you lose quality and the colours aren‘t as bright but overall the results are good enough. The colour difference is also respectable at 6%.
This printer consumes under 1 Watt in standby and 13 Watts when printing, which is low when compared with the average for inkjets (generally around 3W in standby and 20W when printing). What’s more, at 48 dB (A), it’s a quiet machine.
There are two sets of cartridges: standard and XL. The XLs imply a bigger initial outlay of course but give you a better deal if you’re using your printer regularly. Cost per page is as low as anything else on the market. To give you an idea of what else is around, Canon is at 9.1 pence (no XL format, 5 cartridges) on the Pixma MG5350 and Brother at 9.8 pence for the MFC-J825DW.
Lifespan – XL cartridges
These features were already included in the old range but it has to be said, we aren’t yet tired of what are innovative and original solutions. The printer has its own, customisable email address. To print from elsewhere, all you have to do is send a file or a photo by email to the printer’s address. The user can define the admin settings to restrict usage and only give print authorisation to people of your choice.
HP has clearly put its faith in ease of use and mobility, with compatibility for a maximum of devices. Has it achieved its goals?
Hardware
Aesthetically, the 6510 looks a lot like the Photosmart Plus (210a), but thinner (43.6 x 38.1 x 16.1 cm and weighing 5 Kg). The touchscreen, which looks rather like an iPhone, allows you to pilot the machine to print, scan and copy and gives you access to applications via wi-fi. The double paper loader (photo and ordinary paper) facilitates switching between photo prints (10 x 15 cm) and office documents. Users who have a Snapfish account (HP owned), will be able to access their account from the printer after entering their login and password on the touchscreen. The inclusion of a card reader also allows you to print photos straight from the printer. You can rotate, reframe and retouch your photo, as well as adding a frame and setting brightness and colour effects (sepia, antique B &W etc).HP have gone the extra mile when it comes to helping you out with how to use this model. A short tutorial video illustrates how to set the printer up and any other procedures to be carried out. Should you have any problems with it, a message will inform you where the issue lies, show an explanatory video, offer to resolve it and let you know how successful the operation has been.
The menu is pared down and, for added clarity, has a simple default configuration. There's plenty of functionality all the same and you can access the extra features from the customise option.
The touchscreen in the form of an iPhone
Configuring the wi-fi is child’s play. Applications connect to the Internet automatically and give access to a whole series of printable documents: from Disney and Dreamworks colourings to calenders, music scores, graph paper, news bulletins, eco, sport and Sudoku pages, a series of games (logic, geometry and number games), DIY and collage activities for children, origami handbooks, labyrinths, property ads, a how-to application designed to get a computer that has broken down working again, birth information and so on. So just the basics! The content (colourings, games and so on) is regularly renewed for adults and children alike. Note also, the applications store is moving. HP has played the partnership card and has made other applications available for download on www.hpeprintcenter.com
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The 2 paper loaders
Speed
Rapid both for office documents and photo prints, the 6510 is faster than the Photosmart Plus (210a) which manages 10 pages per minute colour and 13 ppm black & white and a good deal faster than the Epson Stylus SX440W, which, under the same conditions, prints at 4 and 8 pages per minute. As always, using the double-sided feature brings down the number of pages per minute. Here you’ll get 4 ppm for either colour or black and white.
"Max" speed takes this up to 46 ppm
For photos, it takes 1 mn 24secs for an A4 and 42 seconds for a 10 x 15 cm print.
Quality
While HP printers are strong when it comes to hardware and connectivity, they lag in terms of quality. The main problem that undermines legibility is however still the same: the size of droplets. Our test graph (enlarged by three on the image below) shows this well. Obviously droplets are not as big at normal size. Apart from this, the shading, colour accuracy and character sharpness are all good.The quality of photo prints suffers from the same issue. Apart from the droplets, if you examine them more closely you’ll see that the black & white prints cruelly lack depth. While the results are okay, we’re a long way off the sort of quality you get on the Canon Pixma MG6250 (which has six cartridges compared to four here!).
Scanner and copier
The scanner is also moulded to be intuitive but with multiple functionality. The moto: keep it simple but don’t forget to make advanced tools available. The first menu is for the main settings: type of document, resolution and format. Rotation, brightness and contrast settings can all be adjusted here. Scanning a document at 300 dpi takes 14 seconds, which is fine. Inevitably you lose quality and the colours aren‘t as bright but overall the results are good enough. The colour difference is also respectable at 6%.
Settings for the number of copies, choosing between black & white and colour, draft and double-sided options are all displayed on-screen in a format that's pared down and easy to read. You can access another page to adjust default settings to your own requirements. These include quality, resizing, density, paper format, type of paper and an option to improve rendering by choosing text or photo. At 16 seconds for a black & white and 26 seconds for colour, copy speeds are good. Although the quality is fine for text, it’s rather average on graphs and other illustrations.
Energy consumption & Noise levels
This printer consumes under 1 Watt in standby and 13 Watts when printing, which is low when compared with the average for inkjets (generally around 3W in standby and 20W when printing). What’s more, at 48 dB (A), it’s a quiet machine.
Cost per page: 7.5 pence with XL cartridges
There are two sets of cartridges: standard and XL. The XLs imply a bigger initial outlay of course but give you a better deal if you’re using your printer regularly. Cost per page is as low as anything else on the market. To give you an idea of what else is around, Canon is at 9.1 pence (no XL format, 5 cartridges) on the Pixma MG5350 and Brother at 9.8 pence for the MFC-J825DW.Lifespan – XL cartridges
| Cartridge | Price | ISO lifespan | Cost per page |
| 364 XL (black) |
£20 |
550 | 3.6 pence |
| 364 XL (cyan) |
£10 |
750 | 1.3 pence |
| 364 XL (magenta) | £10 | 750 | 1.3 pence |
| 364 XL (yellow) | £10 | 750 | 1.3 pence |
Pros
- Cost per page: 7.5 pence
- Printer connected for Web content without computer
- Intuitive and easy-to-use / Wi-fi / double-sided
- High print speeds / Double paper loader
- Low energy (under 1W in standby) and quiet
Cons
- Visible droplets on prints
- Black & white photo prints lack depth
Conclusion
A connected printer with lots of functionality. The combination of simplicity of use with on-board applications for an improved print service and low cost per page makes this product well worth a look. Note however that print quality penalises this model and means we can’t give it a five-star rating.
OUR SCORE
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