Kodak ESP 3.2 review
Cheap running costs, but average scanning and printing quality - there are better printers for the price
In colour the printer was quick to deliver photos, taking just four minutes to print six borderless postcard-sized shots, but slow when printing graphics on plain paper: it completed our 24-page test at just 3ppm. Photo quality was unremarkable, but plain paper prints were more impressive, let down only by some banding in areas of solid colour. The results from the scanner were about average, with fairly good colour accuracy and sharpness, but the printer was less good at preserving the detail among the darkest shades of an original.
The ESP 3.2 supports printing via the cloud and from smartphones or tablets, but there’s no AirPrint support, so iPad and Android users will need to download the free Pic Flick app. This is easy to use and worked well, but it’s focused on photos. Printing other documents requires Document Print which isn’t as slick and is only available for Android.
Kodak is keen to stress its printers’ low running costs, and the ESP 3.2 is one of the cheapest home inkjets we’ve seen to run. There’s little else to commend it, however, so unless cheap ink is critical we’d recommend the similar but better Canon Pixma MG4150, which is now available for just £70.
Basic Specifications | |
---|---|
Rating | *** |
Maximum native print resolution | 9,600dpi |
Max optical resolution | 1,200dpi |
Output bit depth | 24-bit |
Tested Print Speeds | |
Time for two 10x8in photos 1.0 | 3m 25s |
Time for six 6x4in photos 1.0 | 4m 1s |
Physical and Environmental | |
Standard printer interfaces | USB, 802.11b/g/n wireless |
Optional printer interfaces | none |
Size | 178x419x315mm |
Weight | 5.2kg |
Paper Handling | |
Maximum paper size | A4/legal |
Standard paper inputs | 1 |
Standard paper input capacity | 100 |
Maximum paper inputs | 1 |
Maximum paper input capacity | 100 |
Duplex (code, cost if option) | No |
General | |
Printer technology | thermal inkjet |
Supported operating systems | Windows XP/Vista/7, Mac OS X 10.5 or later |
Other inkjet features | 6.1cm colour touchscreen |
Other inkjet options | none |
Buying Information | |
Price | £79 |
Consumable parts and prices | £13 |
Price per colour A4 page | 3.3p |
Quoted life of supplied black cartridge | 205 (ISO/IEC 27412) |
Quoted life of supplied colour cartridge(s) | 390 (ISO/IEC 24712) |
Quoted life of supplied photo cartridge(s) | N/A |
Warranty | one year |
Supplier | http://www.kodak.co.uk |
Details | www.kodak.co.uk |
Print Quality | |
Number of ink colours | 4 |
Number of ink cartridges | 2 |
Maximum number of ink colours | 4 |
Maximum number of cartridges | 2 |
Quoted photo durability | 72 years |
Quoted photo durability source | Torrey Pines Research |
Tested Scan Speeds | |
Full scan area preview | 10s |
A4 document at 150dpi | 11s |
A4 document at 300dpi | 20s |
6x4in photo at 600dpi | 38s |
6x4in photo at 1200dpi | 1m 30s |
Tested Copy Speeds | |
Time for single A4 mono copy 1.0 | 12s |
Time for single A4 colour copy 1.0 | 29s |
Time for 10 A4 copies using feeder 2.0 | N/A |
Photo Features | |
PictBridge support | No |
Borderless printing | A4 |
Direct (PC-less) printing | Yes |
Supported memory cards | SD, MMC, Memory Stick (Pro) |
CD printing | No |
Copy Features | |
Maximum number of copies | 99 |
Fax Features | |
Max mono fax resolution | N/A |
Fax memory (maximum mono pages) | N/A |