HP Photosmart eStation C510 Pro Reviews

In general, the HP Photosmart eStation is a great multifunction printer. It’s especially ideal for family use, and will undeniably meet your printing (photo and text), scanning, copying, and faxing (if you even need that) needs. The Zeen, which may initially feel like a bulky, gimmick addition to the printer, actually has a variety of useful purposes, and we can see the built-in Web apps getting enough use to be considered valuable. It’s sleek, modular build compensates for what could otherwise be seen as a printer too big for the household use. Easy setup and Wi-Fi connectivity round out the eStation’s worthwhile features. We can understand the device being more of an investment than a fair amount of consumers are willing to make for a printer, especially one that’s big draws aren’t entirely its printing ability, however.

The HP Photosmart eStation C510 includes a 7-inch Android tablet and lets you print via e-mail or mobile apps, but its performance could be better.

Fast, capable, and overshadowed by its detachable tablet control panel, this MFP offers a unique extra that may justify its price.

The Photosmart eStation's printing performance is pretty impressive but no better or faster than the much cheaper Photosmart Premium e-All-in-One. That means that you're currently paying an extra £225 or so for the luxury of the removable Zeen, and a couple of extra (but quite basic) web browsing facilities. For our money, it's just not worth it.

The C510 is an innovative, stylish all-in-one that performs well enough but is ultimately let down by an under-performing Android 2.1 tablet that's not nearly as responsive as we'd have liked. While there may be significant appeal in combining devices in this way, there's a bit more work to be done before the idea takes off.

What you’re getting with HP’s eStation is a perfectly capable consumer-based all-in-one device that demands a heavy premium for a detachable “Zeen” tablet that falls sadly short of anything on offer from the dedicated tablet market at present. Though some of the resources and additional benefits on offer will undoubtedly appeal, we can’t see this sort hybrid of technology taking off any time soon.

The eStation’s tablet-like control panel gives this highly capable all-in-one a leg up on its competition. Not only is it a fine inkjet, but for home- or small-office users who want to stay Web-connected when away from a PC, its tablet is a big win.

Does the marriage of an Android tablet to an all-in-one printer make sense? Yeah, actually it does, as long as you understand the limitations of the pairing. The Zeen isn’t a fully featured tablet, but rather a specific feature, with a specific set of functionality tailored to the eStation. Don’t buy the eStation for the Zeen. Buy the eStation because you need a reliable all-in-one printer, and enjoy what the Zeen offers you.

The HP Photosmart eStation C510 is an opportunity missed. The idea behind putting a simple tablet onto a printer, so you can easily call up a synopsis of news, weather forecast or share prices and print them out directly from the printer, is a good one. Unfortunately, the poor responsiveness of the touch screen and the slow performance of some of the software takes away most of this advantage. Put simply, it needs a better tablet.

Fast, high-quality prints and great design, but the gimmicky tablet joins the ranks of Android let-downs

For all the cool points the HP Photosmart eStation C510 earns for Web-connectivity features like ePrint and the detachable Android-powered Zeen, we're holding off on our recommendation until HP drops the price and fixes the user interface bugs and network errors that marred our testing.

The Photosmart eStation and its Zeen tablet definitely out-gadget other high-end home MFPs. However, other touch-based phones and devices are quickly catching up to the Zeen’s printing capabilities. The primary reason to pay this product’s much higher price is for the Zeen’s serving of basic tablet features. If you want this MFP, buy it, but you can get a lot more printer for your buck elsewhere.

The eStation completes the breakout of the printer of its traditional role as a PC peripheral and makes it a family-room device that need not be yoked to a PC. It earns our first Editors' Choice as a Web-enabled printer capable of standalone operation. It can connect not only to your PC but also to the Web at large; print recipes, coloring-book pages, and more through HP's Web apps; print photos off of Facebook and your own pictures from HP Gallery; and print text from ebooks. Just be sure not to drop or lose the controller, or you'll lose much of the eStation's functionality with it.

The HP Photosmart eStation and its Zeen tablet definitely out-gadget other high-end home MFPs such as the Canon Pixma MG8120 and Epson Artisan 835. However, other touch-based phones and devices are quickly catching up to the Zeen's printing capabilities. The primary reason to pay this product's much higher price is for the Zeen's serving of basic tablet features. If you want this MFP, buy it - but you can get a lot more printer for your money elsewhere.