Easyshare G610

Kodak's entrant in the dye-sub stakes markets itself as a 'printer dock' -- docking, of course, with its own brand cameras -- so that it can be used independently of a PC. Any EasyShare camera can slot on to the top of the device; its back faces you for easy access to the camera's LCD to select your prints. The dock also acts as a charger.

This is a cleverly compact product, but there's little point in giving it serious consideration unless you're an EasyShare owner -- or plan to become one. There are no media-card slots, no Bluetooth and no Wi-Fi. However, if you buy a USB cable you can use it with a PC.

The surprisingly heavyweight G610, which is made of reasonably solid and attractive shiny plastic, keeps things simple with three operational buttons: image transfer, print/ok and cancel. The front flips open to allow the attachment of a slightly flimsy paper feeder.

As camera and printer dock have to be perfectly in sync, we had a couple of false starts before the Kodak got going. Like the other dye-subs here, once you've hit print the front rollers suck the 6x4in paper sheet up into the device where, after a 30-second warm-up, the print passes back and forth three times as colours are layered. The fourth and final pass adds protective laminate.

As you'd expect from Kodak, colours jump out. However, the detail is slightly soft and the paper displays slight curling at the edges. Kodak's 60-second print claim is also over-ambitious; we recorded a finished, dry print in one minute and 20 seconds.

Ultimately, with print quality and output speed merely so-so, the G610 earns itself an average score.