HP touts the HP Envy 5640 e-All-in-One ($129.99) as "the easiest way to print from your smartphone or tablet with or without a router or local wireless network." And, indeed, working with mobile devices is of the printer's strong suits. However, it doesn't offer any connection options you can't find in other inkjet multifunction printers (MFPs), and although it's a reasonable choice, it doesn't offer anything to make it stand out from the crowd.
One difference between the Envy 5640 and most products we review is that it's not generally available in the U.S., although HP says limited quantities have been sold here, and may still be available at some locations. However, it is sold in Canada (and elsewhere), and is a near-twin to the HP Envy 5660 e-All-in-One, which is available in the U.S. Both models share most of the same features, with speed counting as the biggest difference between them. HP rates the Envy 5640 as slightly slower than HP 5660. On our tests, however, it turned out to be significantly faster.
As with the HP 5660, the Envy 5640 is meant primarily for home use, but you can use it as a home-office printer as well. It doesn't offer a fax capability or an automatic document feeder (ADF) for scanning, which limits its usefulness in an office, but it can certainly handle light-duty needs.
Basics
The Envy 5640's basic MFP features are printing, copying, and scanning. It will also let you both print from and scan to a memory card, and will let you preview the images on its 2.65-inch LCD before printing. In addition, you can use the front panel touch screen to print from an assortment of websites using HP's print apps, with crossword puzzles, Disney coloring book pages, and a 7-Day Menu Planner being among the most popular, according to HP.The Envy 5640 doesn't offer an Ethernet connector, and you can't use the print apps if you connect the printer to a single PC via USB cable. So to take advantage of the print apps you have to connect it by Wi-Fi to a network that's connected to the Internet.
Support for mobile printing includes printing through the cloud, which also works only if the printer is connected directly to a network. If the network has a Wi-Fi access point, you can connect through the access point to print from iOS, Android, Windows, Google Chrome, Kindle, and Blackberry smartphones and tablets. In addition, the printer supports Wi-Fi Direct, which means that even if it isn't on a network, you can connect directly from mobile devices to print.
The paper handling is better than many home-oriented printers deliver, but not impressive. The 125-sheet input tray is suitable for no more than light-duty printing. On the other hand, the built-in duplexer, for two-sided printing, is a welcome convenience. So is the separate photo tray that can hold 15 sheets of 4-by-6-inch photo paper and lets you switch between printing photos and documents without having to swap out the paper in the main tray. Paper handling for scanning is limited to manually placing originals on the letter-size flatbed.
Recommended by Our Editors
Setup
At 6.3 by 17.9 by 16.1 inches (HWD) and 15 pounds, the 5640 is small and light enough for one person to handle easily. For my tests, I connected it to a Windows Vista system by USB cable. Setup is typical for an inkjet MFP, except for the suggestion in the instructions that instead of installing the driver that comes on disc, you should go online and download the latest driver from HP's website.Checking for a newer version of a driver is something that the installation program really should take care of automatically, as most do. Making you check manually adds an unnecessary extra step. Worse, HP doesn't give you any way to tell whether the version online is newer than the one on the disc, which means you have to spend time downloading the online version, whether you need it or not.
Speed and Output Quality
The Envy 5640's speed is reasonably fast for the price, but not exceptional. I clocked it on our business applications suite (using QualityLogic's hardware and software for timing) at 3.2 pages per minute (ppm).
That makes the Envy 5640 faster than the HP 5660, which came in at only 2.2ppm despite HP giving it a faster rating. It's also faster than the HP Envy 5530 e-All-in-One, at 2ppm. On the other hand, it's significantly slower than the Brother MFC-J470DW, which managed 4.9ppm and offers features like an ADF and faxing that help make it our Editors' Choice low-price inkjet MFP aimed a bit more at home-office use than home use. Photo speed is also reasonably fast, averaging 52 seconds for a 4-by-6 print.
Output quality is similarly acceptable without being a strong point. Text quality is in the middle of a fairly tight range that includes vast majority of inkjet MFPs. That translates to being good enough most purposes, as long as you don't need to use small fonts very often. It's not suitable for output that needs to look fully professional, like a resume.
Graphics and photos are both at the low end average for an inkjet MFP. That makes the graphics output easily good enough for most home printing needs or internal business use. If you have a critical eye, however, you may not consider it good enough for, say, PowerPoint handouts for business or greeting cards for personal use. Photo quality is at the low end of what you would expect from drugstore prints.
If you're looking for an inkjet MFP for home office or for home and home office use, the Brother MFC-J470DW is likely to be your best choice, thanks to its fast speed, fax capability, and ADF. Similarly, if your key concern is photo output quality, be sure to take a look at the HP 5530. If you don't need either office-centric features or particularly high quality photos, however, the HP Envy 5640 e-All-in-One's balance of mobile printing support, Web-related features, and speed could make it your preferred choice.