Epson Picture Mate PM-520 review: Must-have smart gadget for home

In this digital age, most people are now inclined to invest in mid-range or premium phones with good photography hardware rather than in standalone cameras.

Similarly, smart digital frames are up against physical photo albums and are steadily increasing their presence in the living rooms at least in the cities. But, many who were born between the 50s and 90s still treasure those old photos, as they evoke intense emotions and nostalgia of their growing days.

But, unlike old times when people were happy with things moving slowly, this is a fast-paced world and they need things instantly.

We just hate to wait for the local photo shop to get it printed. Here comes Epson. It has a perfect compact home-friendly 'Picture Mate PM-520' that can be placed neatly beside a computer or on the table in the bedroom. Users can print photos instantly with ease and connect wirelessly to phones. Is it as good as proclaimed? Let's check it out.

Design

Epson's Picture Mate PM-520 printer comes in a compact rectangular design language, resembling a mini chiller ice box. It measures 265 mm (10.4) x 196 mm (7.7) x 137 mm (5.4) in dimensions. It takes a very small place to sit on the table.

It weighs around 2.3 kg and comes with a handle; this makes it easy to carry around the printer with ease to any corner of the house.

It also features a 2.7-inch LCD display, which comes paired with a side panel housing physical buttons. It is really easy to navigate through the settings and one can even manually connect to the Wi-Fi without using the mobile app.

Epson's Picture Mate PM-520

It can print photos with a maximum size of 5x7-inch (13x18cm). It also supports 3.5x5-inch (9x13 cm) and 4x6-inch (10x15cm) size photos, which are perfect for placing them on photo albums and baby record books.

As far as connectivity is concerned, it supports Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n), Wi-Fi Direct, and USB 2.0 for microSD cards.

User interface and performance

Setting up the Picture Mate PM-520 is really easy. I was able to connect it to the Wi-Fi and to my phone in less than 10 minutes.

One can install the Epson iPrint app, which not only helps users to get the right photo to print but also offer personalisation option such as collage. The printer supports several other Epson apps including Epson Creative Print and more, which offer more customisations and be able to print out stamp size and passport photos for official work.

Even without the official Epson iPrint, users can print photos wirelessly sent from phones to the Picture Mate PM-520, as it supports native apps --Apple AirPrint and Google Cloud Print on iPhones and Android handsets, respectively.

Not just phones, it also supports computers with Windows XP / Vista / 7 / 8 / 8.1 & newer versions and 10 Mac OS X 10.6.8 or newer versions.

As noted earlier, digital photo frames are a rage in the market, but they just can't evoke the same intense emotion in us compared to viewing images from a physical photo album.

This is exactly why people still hire photography agencies to make photo albums of marriages and other family functions. For big programmes, the latter works out better. But, for small functions, you can bet on an Epson Picture Mate PM-520 printer.

Epson's Picture Mate PM-520

For young couples who just welcomed their newest member to their small family, the Picture Mate PM-520 printer can get you all the important milestones of the kid's growth from the first walk to the first word to candid happy moments, into the baby's record book album.

My parents waited for days for the photography studio to get photo negatives converted to colourful pictures. Now, with Picture Mate PM-520, you can print colour photos instantly and place them in the baby record book.

As far as the photo quality is concerned, they are really good. As you can see in the photo samples, the pictures are sharp with clear details. All the photos printed via Mate PM-520 were taken on iPhone.

Epson Mate PM-520 is an On-demand inkjet (Piezoelectric) printer and boasts Variable-Sized Droplet Technology. With this, the printer will be able to precisely control the voltage that drives the piezoelectric elements and the nozzle can eject ink droplets of various sizes, as needed.

Epson's Picture Mate PM-520

It should be noted that it supports Minimum Ink Droplet Volume 2pl (picoliters) and comes with black nozzle configuration of 180 and 180 per colour (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow).

It supports a Maximum Print Resolution of 5,760 x 1,440 dpi (dots per inch). It can produce one photo in less than 40 seconds. And, the paperpacks are also available on popular e-commerce sites.

During the entire review period, the Picture Mate PM-520 series was able to deliver high-quality photos with sharpness and clear details of the subject, exactly the way the device had captured the scene.

Also, I faced less than a handful times of paper jams, but it never produced any distorted photos. Consumers can easily replace 4-colour ink cartridges for Rs 1,099 on the official Epson online store. It can deliver up to 160 photos. Also, you can buy the paper

Final thoughts

Epson's Picture Mate PM-520 is a handy compact printer tailor-made for homes. It excels in delivering crisp clear photos in a short time.

Also, the user interface is simple. It only takes a few minutes to complete the setup process of connecting it to the home Wi-Fi and companion device (phones and tablets) with ease.

Epson Picture Mate PM-520 is available on e-commerce sites for Rs 15,499 in India.

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