Lexmark Genesis S816 All-in-One Printer Review
Smart Solutions
Contents
Lexmark’s Smart Solutions is their way of making this printer Internet-connected. In the style of the iPhone and Android, it is a collection of application shortcuts that you can use for Internet services. As shown in Figure 13, the apps are clearly visible on the printer screen.
Figure 13: Smart Solution Choices
The number of applications has increased since we looked at the Lexmark Interact S605 All-in-One Printe r, and some are quite useful. There are three default applications: ID Card Copy, Photo Reprint and Tell Me More. The ID Card Copy lets you copy the front and back of an ID card quickly and easily. While this might be useful in some offices, we did not understand why it was a default app.
Not including our initial encounter, it is easy to add new apps, but you cannot remove the three default apps.
Also, when using the updated Smart Solutions website, we noticed that Lexmark had added a shopping cart and pricing to the Smart Solutions shopping center. At the time we visited, 68 of the solutions were free. There were five solutions for printing forms from LegalZoom that ranged from USD 30 to USD 40. We are hoping that Lexmark does not start charging for any of the solutions that are now free, but th
at is a distinct possibility.
The solutions that we found useful were those that handled printing and/or scanning functions. There are solutions for printing graph paper, sheet music, and calendars, and scanning directly to your Evernote account. You can also print photos from Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and Photobucket. Several other solutions like Google Analytics, which lets you track traffic to your Website, seems a little far-fetched for a printer.
The Smart Solutions also lets you display things such as the weather, your Google Calendar, and the news on the printer screen. While these may be handy if the printer is nearby, they won’t be very valuable if the printer is in a more remote location.
Lexmark offers a three-year extended warranty if you register your product within the first 90 days of purchase. The Lexmark Genesis S816 is Energy Star certified.