Lexmark S815 Genesis printer-scanner multifunction device

The Lexmark Genesis looks little like any other printer-scanner (or standard printer, for that matter) that we've reviewed.

Its unusual design does mean that although it's quite large (the box was larger than most in our lab) it doesn't take up a lot more room on a desk or table than any other printer. It is well over a foot tall, however, so take that into account if your space is limited.

Paper feeds in at the back of the device through a small sheet feeder and comes out of the device at the front.

The tray expands and folds out to catch printed sheets before they fall on the floor. Above the paper output is a flap of sturdy plastic that covers the area where the ink cartridges are installed. There are four: three colours and a black. Above that is a polished black area that includes the power button and a fairly large (4.3in) touch-sensitive colour screen.

All the controls and menus are operated through the screen, which was reasonably responsive in our tests – we've come across touch-sensitive printer controls that failed to register when a button was pressed, but not this one. The screen doesn't have much of a hard coating, though, so unlike on a touchscreen phone, you can see and feel the screen compress when it's pressed, which is not enormously pleasant.

There's a memory card reader on one side, but no USB socket to attach a camera for direct printing.

Setup was confusing – there was the usual collection of plastic and blue tape that had to be removed (along with a cleaning cloth and information label that's stuck inside the printer) – and we were guided through the process by the instructions on the screen. But after installing the ink cartridges it stopped working, until we realised it was waiting for paper, without having said so. With paper loaded it continued to set itself up.

It connects using a USB cable (a short one is supplied) or to a wireless network. Annoyingly, unless your wireless router uses a technology called WPS you need to connect the USB cable first in order to set up the wireless connection, which should have been possible to set up on the printer's screen.

It connects to Lexmark's Smart Solutions service, which allows users to view and print anything from news and weather to recipes and Facebook photos over the internet.