What is the Epson Expression Premium XP-615?
As time goes on, features in most kit, including printers, work their way down the product line from most expensive to least. The Epson Expression Premium XP-615 has a lot of the features, like duplex print, WiFi Direct, on-disc print and touch panel controls you’d only have found in top-of-the-range models from a few years back. It only costs around £90, though.
Epson Expression Premium XP-615 - Design and Features
The Epson XP-615 is an ice-white printer, though if you prefer black, you can go for the XP-610, which is functionally identical. The printer has a surprisingly small footprint, though it’s quite chunky. The cover to the scanner – there’s no Automatic Document Feeder on the machine – is discreetly textured and can lift slightly to accommodate magazines.
The control panel hinges out from the front and is centred around a 64mm LCD screen. Although this isn’t touch-sensitive, control is easy via the array of illuminated touch keys to left and right.
Epson Expression Premium XP-615 - Connections and Installation
To the left of the controls are twin card slots, for SD and MemoryStick, and below these is a USB socket, which will also accept PictBridge cameras, giving versatile connections from a variety of current and legacy devices.
Below the control panel is a large slot for three different trays. The top one, which has to be pulled out and stowed manually, is the output tray. Below this is a shorter tray for 20 photo blanks up to 13 x 18cm, while at the bottom is a full A4 tray for plain and photo paper, though with a restricted capacity of just 100 sheets. The photo tray is powered and feeds paper automatically when printing photos.
Sticking out below these trays is a DVD/CD carrier, which can be slid into guides in the output tray for direct printing on suitably coated discs.
The Epson Expression Premium XP-615 takes five individual ink cartridges, with both photo and plain paper blacks. They plug in very conveniently, after folding up the scanner section for access.
Epson provides a good suite of software, including scan, photo print and DVD/CD print utilities. There are also downloadable apps like iPrint, which connect Android and iOS devices for direct wireless printing.
