This is hot-off-the-press, high-tech fun!

Today, Tuesday August 28th is the big launch date for the HP Photosmart A626 Compact Photo Printer.

Girls, this is something to be talked about. I have to admit, I’m not one for playing with electronics and high-tech gadgets, but some are made with a mom in mind and this Photosmart Printer has ‘mom-must-have’ written all over it.

I imagine many moms can relate to the dilemma of never having time to get their digital photos printed.

When you look around my house (or Janice’s house), you’d never know we actually have thousands of photos of our kids. In fact, basically the only photos anyone has ever seen of our kids are those we post here on 5 Minutes for Mom. All the other memories are reduced to bits and bytes that fill up our hard drives.

Sound familiar?

We love our digital camera and we’d never go back. But the only snag in the process is the photos find themselves stuck on a hard drive and we never make time to send them to the printers.

And as much as I love it that each time I get milk from the fridge I see a picture of a one-year-old Julia pushing her doll stroller last summer, I think I’m now going to tack up a picture of her pedaling her trike.

But enough about photos on my fridge… you probably want to know more about this gem of a photo printer. Well, let me tell you…

• It’s tiny!
  Don’t start thinking you need to clear off a shelf for another full size printer. This cute little Photosmart Printer needs almost no space. It’s only about 10 inches wide, 4.5 inches deep and 5 inches tall.
• The print quality is exceptional.
  I was astounded at the quality of the photos I printed. I do not believe anyone would be able to guess which photos I printed on this printer and which I had professionally printed.
• It’s portable.
  A little handle makes it easy for you to take your printer with you to scrapbook parties, and you do not even need to bring your computer. It can run on batteries, or you can plug it in to any power outlet. Then you can simply pull your memory card from your digital camera, plug it into the printer and start printing. So as you scrap you can decide which photos you want to print and at what size.
• You’ve got lots of options of how to transfer your photo files to the printer.
  The folks at HP really made sure this printer supported your favorite way to transfer files. You can use a memory card such as an xD-Picture Card, Compact Flash I and II, Memory Stick or a Secure Digital MultiMedia Card. Or you can send photos directly from your computer using either a USB cable or an HP Bluetooth wireless printer adaptor. If those aren’t enough options, you can also connect a PictBridge digital camera, or a USB flash/thumb drive or even an iPod!
• You can print different sizes of photos.
  The printer can support several different sizes of paper including the commonly used 5 x 7 and 4 x 6. It can also print panoramic photos on 4 x 12 photo paper, and several other sizes such as 4 x 8 photo cards, photo stickers and more.
• It can connect to computers running Microsoft Windows and Mac computers.
  If you’re using Windows XP or Vista, or Mac OS 10.3x or 10.4x your computer will be fine connecting and sending files to the printer. But remember, you can use the printer without a computer.
• You can customize your photos directly on the printer.
  You don’t even need to load your photos into a photo editing program on your computer. You can remove red eye, sharpen blurred photos, improve brightness, color and contrast at time of printing. You can also get creative by drawing on your photos or adding frames, captions, clip art and special effects.
• It’s so easy to setup and use.
  You can have your printer setup and printing in minutes. (And no, you do not need to call your husband. LOL) The printer comes with a quick setup guide and the printer’s online help guides you through the steps as well.

If you’ve got a hard drive full of photos and you’d like to get printing, leave a comment and let us know. If you also link back to this post to let your readers in on the scoop, we’ll enter your name in the draw for a free HP Photosmart printer.

Non-bloggers can still enter. We understand you can’t link back, but perhaps you can email a few friends… I’m sure they’ll be thanking you. US Shipping addresses only… so sorry to our Canadian friends.

We will draw the lucky winner on Monday September, 10th.

I recommend you add this printer to your list of Mom’s Back To School Supplies. Just think of all the quick hand-made birthday cards you can make for those countless birthday parties and Thanksgiving cards and Christmas cards. Not to mention covering your fridge with photos of the kids at soccer and trick-or-treating and on and on…

So, if we don’t draw your number or you just can’t wait until the 10th, hop over and order your own HP Photosmart A626 Compact Photo Printer at Best Buy or HPShopping.com.

Happy Photo Printing!