Kodak ESP 3.2 review

Kodak may no longer make cameras, but it's still one of the biggest names when it comes to multifunction printers (MFPs). The ESP 3.2 is the latest addition to the range: it has useful touchscreen controls and new features such as the ability to print from a smartphone.

This MFP isn't as pretty as some of its rivals, but it's also not as large or heavy, which could be useful if space is a squeeze. You can connect it to a single computer with a USB cable or share it on a home network using wireless networking; either way the software installation is simple. The physical preparation involves simply clicking the print heads and ink tanks into place.

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This isn't a slow printer, but in use it's rather noisy – particularly when sucking paper in or ejecting it. In our tests it printed draft quality black text at a rate of 10 pages per minute (ppm) and managed a reasonable 6.25ppm at the normal quality setting. For pages of text and colour graphics this dropped to 3.5ppm. These plain paper prints had strong colours and bold black text; when we photocopied them the results were also fairly good.

Even at the best quality, printing a borderless photo onto 6x4" (15x10cm) paper took just 69 seconds, but the results were less impressive. On close examination we could make out some graininess, while dark parts of the photo had lost some of their impact. The results from the scanner were similar: captures of plain paper documents were fine for general office purposes, but more detailed photo scans weren't especially impressive.

Overall, then, the ESP 3.2 isn't anything special, but like other Kodak printers it does benefit from low running costs thanks to comparatively cheap ink. Using the larger of two available colour cartridges, each page should cost around 5.3p. That could save you money if you print a lot, but some other rivals won't cost much more. The penny extra you'd pay for prints from HP's Photosmart 5510 is worth it given that, overall, it's a better MFP.