By Angelica Faye Tolosa
THERE are printers and there’s the HP Deskjet GT 5280, which can print remotely using a smart device. And not all printers can print directly from a mobile phone. I tried using my friend’s iPhone 5, and I was surprised how quickly the Deskjet GT 5280 printed my test file.
I am not a tech-junkie, so for me, it is a big plus that I don’t need to be tech savvy to be able to print wirelessly through my handheld device.
The HP’s ePrint capability is also a plus since I can just directly e-mail my file to the printer and it will automatically print. Even away from the office, files can be printed from your laptop, or even from a smartphone.
Printer
THE HP Deskjet GT 5280 All-in-One Printer has four ink cartridges—cyan, magenta, yellow and key (black). It is easy to refill and doesn’t run out of ink easily in the two weeks the company allowed use of the unit.
However, it doesn’t have an automatic paper sensor, so I had to select the paper size on my computer when printing. Moreso, if I go any less than 60 grams per square meter (gsm) in paper weight, I experienced paper jams. Still, the HP Deskjet GT 5280 can print in cards up to 200 gsm.
Printing, especially colored pages, can take up to at least 17 seconds, which is a little too long for a millennial like me. But what it lacks in speed, it more than makes up for in quality. It can print up to 4,800×1,200-optimized dots per inch color (dpi). Printing on photo paper, while time-consuming, is in great quality. Unlike other color printers, it doesn’t produce prints with vertical or horizontal lines that tatter the image. It also doesn’t smudge on paper, unlike outputs of other printers.
Copier
GT 5280’s copier not only copy black text, it can also copy colored text and graphics and still use the same resolution, as it is in black and white.
Compared to heavy-duty office copiers, this lightweight doesn’t trail far with its 600×300 dpi copy resolution. Besides, not all copiers can duplicate colored pages.
A downside, though, is that the GT 5280 can only duplicate up to nine copies. But you don’t usually need as much, and you could always just repeat the process. Problem solved.
Scanner
HP Deskjet’s flatbed scanner can save different file formats, such as jpeg, tiff, pdf, bmp and png.
Its scan resolution can reach up to 1,200 dpi, pretty much like the printer. The proprietary Photosmart Software is a perfect fit for my desktop. Although, you have to keep in mind the size of the flatbed scanner, which is only 216×297 millimeters. But I don’t need a big flatbed in a small office or at home, which is the most probable market of this unit.
The verdict
WHAT I don’t like about this printer is that it takes a little too much time to print colored documents, especially photos. But what I like about this printer more than compensates for its downsides. It’s a lightweight (4.67 kilograms), produces high-quality prints—whether in black and white or colored—and scans and copies clearly. In addition, the HP Deskjet GT 5280 is ePrint capable, easy to operate and true to its name—All-in-One Printer, by all means.
Out of 10, this printer easily gets an eight for me.