There seems to be an ongoing competition at the moment to see how many gadgets and features can be attached to an all-in-one printer, and HP's Photosmart C8180 has not only joined the race but has upgraded a number of elements that have been standard on the company's previous range of multifunction devices.

Externally, everything appears fairly conventional with its compact, rectangular shape (448 x 392 x 216mm and weighing 11.4kg), dual front-loading paper trays to handle photos and documents, adjustable display panel and slots for memory cards. It's only when you look a bit closer that you see what's been added and what's been left out.

First of all, one item that has surprisingly not been upgraded is the colour scheme. Cream and grey is definitely yesterday's design choice in an age when black and silver is cool. That aside, one of the best features has been retained: the easy, user-friendly, ink cartridge loading system. The six individual HP Vivera ink cartridges slot effortlessly into the front-facing bays and it's a matter of minutes before the self-checking is complete and you're ready to go.

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Scanning is not just the basic RGB, 3-colour, 48-bit method; instead you can use the maximum 96-bit mode via six scanning LEDs. Using up to 9,600 x 9,600dpi optical resolution and up to 19,200dpi enhanced resolution, you can produce more authentic and vivid colour reproductions this way. Cunningly tucked behind the scanner lid is an adapter for slides and negatives which will accommodate up to six negatives and four slides.

When it's time to start previewing and selecting photos to be copied or scanned, that's when you notice the alteration in the 8.9cm LCD display; it's now an interactive touch-screen. You're still using the excellent Photosmart Express as the controlling software, but gone is the need for separate arrow buttons to wade through menus. Now you touch the relevant command and you can view photos either singly or in batches of nine before you decide what you want to do with them. There's even a new button beside the LCD for automatic red-eye removal.

HP has added a LightScribe DVD+/-RW drive positioned directly beneath the memory card slots, so now you can copy your holiday snaps directly to CD or DVD and even create a label to go with them. Additionally, of course, you can also print or copy photos from a pre-recorded disk and the memory slots will take most recognised formats including CompactFlash, xD, SD, MMC, SDHC, HDMMC, MMCPlus, Memory Stick, MS Pro, MS Duo and MS Pro Duo.

If that weren't enough, the 10x15cm photo holder is now fully automated so you don't have to physically load it each time, you've got Wi-Fi and Ethernet network connections (as well as Bluetooth and Pictbridge compatibility) and quoted print speeds up to 34ppm in monochrome and 33ppm in colour. Yet despite all these excellent features, it's hard to believe such a versatile all-in-one doesn't have a fax capability.

A much improved all-in-one printer with a user-friendly touch-screen operation, DVD/CD burner, improved scanning quality and automated small photo feeder. A fax engine would have been nice, though.