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>> HP recently debuted a full line of desktops and
laptop computers with touch-screens. But can HP
successfully parlay that into their new line of
printers? Well, you're about to find out. I'm Justin
Yew [Assumed spelling] associate editor with cnet.com
with the first look at the HP Photo Smart premium
TouchSmart web printer. So the TouchSmart web is a new
breed of all-in-one printer, an the flagship model of
HP's Photo Smart line, weighing in at a hefty $400. Now
the main reason for that price tag is it's 4.33 inch
touch-screen that can actually connect wirelessly to the
Internet. Finally letting you cut the cord between the
computer and the printer. Now the web connectivity also
let's you access HP's new app studio to download free
short cut widgets from companies like Pixar, Fandango,
Google, et cetera, straight to the printer. Now from
there you can tap each one to add or delete apps from
your favorites list, and then finalize them on the
virtual home screen. Now unfortunately the list of
current apps available to download is pretty sparse, and
the ones that are down there kind of feel gimmicky,
especially all of the children's coloring books and
games. Now other apps like Google Maps, U.S.A. Today
News and weather reports could potentially be useful if
they didn't take so long to navigate and load. Now in
addition, we also noticed a significant lag in the
responsiveness of the touch-screen and the apps
themselves had a tendency to freeze up on us, requiring
a long restart. So on top of that, we're still confused
about why home users need a touch-screen on their
printers in the first place. Now why would anybody want
to suffer through all the hunting and pecking on a tiny
4-inch screen when there's a good chance that a
computer, monitor, keyboard, and mouse aren't too far
away. We even put this theory to the test and timed how
long it would take to print out a specific location
using a Google map widget on the TouchSmart versus using
an actual computer and clicking print. Now not
surprisingly, the former look 1.27 minutes to complete
the test. And the latter took only 21.4 seconds. Now
aside from the touch-screen and the aesthetics, there
really aren't that many differences between this model
and the cheaper Photo Smarts. There's an auto duplexer
for double-sided prints, a covered media bay, and a dual
paper tray that separates photo and letter-sized paper.
So that's pretty cool. But for some reason HP does not
include an auto document feeder, which are actually
incredibly convenient for scanning or copying large
stacks of documents. Now also we were able to get
better performance scores out of the HP office jet pro
8500 wireless printer, which also happens to cost less
and do more. So overall, we do applaud HP for forging
ahead and releasing the first touch-screen printer for
the home, but it still needs to iron out some wrinkles
before they're ready for main stream success. So check
out all of details in our full review, but that's going
to do it for me. I'm Justin Yew, and you just look a
first look at the HP Photo Smart premium TouchSmart web
printer. Thanks for watching.
