Airprint poor print quality

Question

Level 1

8 points

Airprint poor print quality

Hi I have an iPhone 4 and I have a HP Photosmart e-AiO. I can get airprint to work from my iPhone, however, the quality of the printout is terrible.

I'm trying to print photos taken from the iPhone 4. I have tried emailing the printer with the same photo from my iPhone 4 and the quality is fine then. Is airprint compressing the file and printing it in worse quality than the original? Does airprint not print well on glossy photo paper perhaps? Could someone help me resolve this problem as I would like to use airprint to save me the trouble of emailing the photos every time.

Thanks in advance.

iOS 4

Posted on Dec 14, 2010 2:27 PM

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Answer 1

Dec 14, 2010 7:16 PM in response to Bazoioi

Which Photosmart do you have (model number)? For pictures taken on your phone, the original image should be being sent directly to the printer. Are you using the Photos app to print your picture? Any additional information you can provide would be beneficial.

Just trying to help.

Andrew

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Answer 2

Bazoioi Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 15, 2010 2:00 AM in response to Bazoioi

HP CN245B Photosmart Wireless e-All-in-One Printer. I'm using the photos app on the iPhone, printing 1 single copy and I've tried 2 different glossy papers - 'everyday photo paper 4x6' and 'RDI photo paper A5'.

It's as if the colours of the photo are smudged everytime I use airprint. But if I send it from iPhone via email to printer (and select original size) the printout is excellent.

Thanks for your replies. Any more help would be appreciated.

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Answer 3

Dec 15, 2010 11:33 AM in response to Bazoioi

Bazoioi,

So you have an HP Photosmart B110 series printer. I am going to ask you to download and install [HP iPrint Photo|http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hp-iprint-photo-3-0/id299531647?mt=8], its free from the App store. Print one of the pictures using that and tell me what the quality is relative to AirPrint.

Just trying to help.

Andrew

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Answer 4

Bazoioi Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 15, 2010 12:02 PM in response to Bazoioi

Thanks for your help. Ok using the hp app makes the printout much better than when I use airprint. It is not quite as good quality as when I just email the printer from iPhone though. Is airprint not fully supported for my printer?

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Answer 5

Dec 15, 2010 12:24 PM in response to Bazoioi

It should be fully supported. I'll look into the issue, but to summarize, printing photo's taken from you iPhone, the quality (from Best to Worst) is: ePrint->HP iPrint Photo->AirPrint.

Just trying to help.

Andrew

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Answer 6

Dec 15, 2010 3:28 PM in response to Bazoioi

Bazoioi,

I do have a follow up question from one of our engineers working on trying to track this down. Can we get some clarity on “poor print quality”? Is that grain? Banding? Bleeding? Colors? Any details you can provide are appreciated.

Just trying to help.

Andrew

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Answer 7

rbii

Level 2

345 points

Dec 15, 2010 5:14 PM in response to Bazoioi

A friend has an HP Photosmart B110. He hasn't seen a photo quality problem. If you wanted to share your photo I'd be happy to try it on his printer. If you are interested please feel free to e-mail me. My address is rich at rbi.com

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Answer 8

Bazoioi Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 16, 2010 11:45 AM in response to Bazoioi

The best way to describe it would be when using airprint the printout looks like a smudged painting. The colours are too bright and faded. I will send rbii a photo I've taken of the 2 photos side by side.

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Answer 9

Bazoioi Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 21, 2010 12:27 PM in response to Bazoioi

Ok thanks to rbii and his friend for the solution to this problem. He found out that it is a region issue. I'm in the UK so my region was default as UK. To make airprint work properly I have to set my region to US. I hope this helps anyone else who has the same problem.

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Answer 10

Dec 21, 2010 1:22 PM in response to Bazoioi

Hi I too have this problem.. Is this the region setting on the Printer to be changed to US?

When I print via airprint it makes the photos much redder than normal and quality seems to be fixed on 'quick print'.. so get some minor banding and other draft like qualities. If I use my macbook and select best quality then photos look stunning. Was just hoping for a happy medium!

Cheers
Rob

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Answer 11

mkellock

Level 1

0 points

Dec 25, 2010 9:47 PM in response to Bazoioi

I have a HP 410a multi-function. I managed to get AirPrint working, however you need to change the international settings on your phone to US, print then change it back to Aus. Otherwise it looks like a painting of the photo and not the original. A definite issue with 4.2.1 somewhere. Good if Apple can get this fixed in 4.2.2 or 4.3, whatever is coming next. FYI.

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Answer 12

Jan 4, 2011 11:53 PM in response to mkellock

Just to let everyone know, the problem is with the HP Printers, not with AirPrint. We have identified the problem, and are working on a fix. I'll let everyone know when to expect an update once I have some sort of schedule.

Just trying to help.

Andrew

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Answer 13

Jan 25, 2011 6:09 PM in response to Bertie64

If you set your local to the US, you'll bypass the problem. We are working on a firmware update to fix the issues, but these take time when you weren't planning for them.

Just trying to help.

Andrew

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Answer 14

CubfanBU

Level 1

0 points

Jul 5, 2011 7:10 AM in response to HP Mac Architect

Has this issue been fixed yet. I just bought a HP Premium Photosmart printer. The whole reason I purchased it was becuase if the abilty to print photos from my ipad and iphone.

I was very disappointed to see how poor the quality was compared to printing photos from my computer. The photos appear darker and not as sharp when printed form the ipad and iphone.

I am in the US and think I have my settings set up properly. Any suggestions to getting photos printing from my ipad with the better quality?

Thanks,

Chris

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Answer 15

Jow76

Level 1

0 points

Aug 1, 2011 6:31 AM in response to HP Mac Architect

I have the same problem. Poor quality when printing from Iphone 4 via airprint or iPrint app. I tried the workaround and set regionformat from sweden to US. But it made no difference. My printer is a hp photosmart wireless aio b110a and i have the latest firmware, bought the printer yesterday and updated the firmware immediatly.

Any update on the firmware fix?

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