Lexmark Interact S605 – revamped SmartSolutions widgets

Thumbs Up:

Revamped SmortSolution widgets; quick-responsive touch-screen; auto-duplexer; rapid printing output

Thumbs Down:

The photo quality still needs improvement.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

The Lexmark Interact S605 printer is based on the Lexmark Thermal Inkjet technology. It has four ink cartridges: – cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.

The maximum operating temperature is 89.6°F and minimum is 60°F. The humidity range operating is 8-80%. The printer is ENERGY STAR qualified and compatible to Windows 7. The direct printing specification is PictBridge support.

Razzle Dazzle:

The Lexmark Interact S605 is 7 inches tall, 14.1 inches deep, and 20.2 inches wide and weighs 16.5 lbs. It has simple and latest design.

Inside Dope:

The Lexmark Interact S605 printer has touch-screen interface that is very quick and easy to use. The small business and home users will definitely appreciate its professional text and graphic printing quality as compared with laser printers. The Lexmark has completely redesigned the Interact S605, but its chassis looks similar to that of the Impact S305. If you are wishing to buy the best photo printing quality then you have to look elsewhere.

On the back side, the folding paper tray feeds the papers into the Lexmark Interact S605 and exits out to the extendable tray at printer’s bottom lip. The paper input tray can adjust the media sizes including letter, legal, and envelope due to its adjustable arm that collect the incoming sheets before feeding to the printer.

The Lexmark Interact S605 has 4.3 inches touch-screen located in the center of control panel and occupies most of the space. The PictBridge USB port and the media card reader slot are on the right side. It is important to mention here that the LCD display will lock in one fixed place when you swivel it first time. It means that you cannot adjust the display for viewing it from the best angle.

There is only one physical button at the display. The rest of the controls are touch based and will only appear according to the current application. On the right side of display, you will find the Stop button for canceling the job in progress and scan/copy/print function button. According to Lexmark, the users will avoid confusion of different buttons by following this strategy. The company also provides the SmartSolutions widgets for more customization. You can hit the onscreen plus sign to start the process of adding SmartSolutions. However, it will require connecting the Lexmark Interact S605 printer to the Internet via wireless or wired connection. This process also requires registering the username and password. The Lexmark Platinum Pro905 also offers the SmartSolutions widgets.

We like that the Lexmark is providing various software applications in the included disc including Picasa/Photobucket photo viewer and Google Calendar.  After dragging the application to the printer window, you will get more customization options including print quality, re-labeling, and icons etc. You can sync these applications with the Lexmark Interact S605 and they will come under “SmartSolutions” button at the home screen.

All the SmartSolutions widgets are good and we especially like the Eco-Copy. It allows customization of a button to print on both side of the paper at reduced output and minimal ink. The printer driver will also give the option to print in color ink only, black only, or all ink cartridges. We appreciate the Lexmark to launch some solutions including Business Card Scan for Windows, Apple News aggregator, copy for A5 paper, and more. The company will release an SDK in this year to offer the developers to create their own applications.

The Lexmark Interact S605 uses latest Vizix ink cartridges: dye based cyan, magenta, yellow, and pigment black. The printing cost is 3 cents per color page and 5 cents per black page after using the XL cartridges. This printing cost is average for multifunction printer.

The Lexmark Toolbar also installs a browser toolbar for easy-access Web page printing. The Lexmark Productivity Studio and Imaging Studio provide easy process for auto-editing and cropping and include several creative projects. The Lexmark Service Center works as troubleshooting guide to help when you face some technical problem while working with the printer. An onscreen progress bar will show the printing progress, graphic representation of ink depletion, and paper low warning. The paper low warning will also be shown on the printer’s LCD.

The overall printing performance of the Lexmark Interact S605 is better than other printers in its class except the great performer – the Epson WorkForce 610. The presentation printing speed of the Interact S605 is 3.63 pages per minute (PPM). It is better than 2.59PPM of the HP Photosmart C6380 and 2.93 PPM of the Canon Pixma MP560, but less than 5.55PPM of the WorkForce 610.

For the Lexmark Interact S605, the photo printing speed is 2.07PPM and color graphics speed is 3.96PPM. Its text printing speed is 7.83PPM. For the Epson WorkForce 610, the photo printing speed is 0.89PPM, 3.96PPM for color graphics speed and 13.24PPM for text.

The Lexmark Interact S605 performs average like the Platinum Pro905 as both uses Vizix ink. The printing quality remains the best of black text and mediocre for photos and color graphic pages. The photo prints looks smeared and suffered with jagged edges. The color copy of picture does not look like its original even after some calibration settings.

The Lexmark provides three-year warranty with its Interact S605 with lifetime priority phone technical support. You can also transfer the warranty within five years. The live chat support is available from 5AM to 8PM PT in weekdays and 9AM to 3PM on Saturday. The company has also published the driver updates, warranty extension information, dockets with device specifications, how-tos, and FAQs at its Web site.

Nitty Gritty:

The Interact S605 is build for home and small business usage and stands out in its class. If you are not looking for the best kiosk quality pictures, then Lexmark Interact S605 is a good printer to buy.

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