The tiny Hewlett Packard PhotoSmart 1200 is a sleek, portable, flatbed scanner tailor-made for scanning small items with minimal hassle.

Weighing in at a tiny 680g with a scan bed of only 10 x 15cm it's perfect for scanning photos. Features include 1,200 x 1,200dpi optical resolution, a USB 2.0 port, CompactFlash card and shared MMC/SD slots. Power is by the USB 2.0 port, or by four AA batteries when unplugged.
 
This scanner can capture an image of 300dpi in 14 seconds and at 1,200dpi in 90 seconds. Images may be directly transferred to storage card media. If a printer is handy, the PhotoSmart 1200 can be used to duplicate photos without a computer.

The scanner lid is removable, which helps you capture partial images of objects larger than the scan bed. You can then use the bundled ArcSoft Panorama software to assemble these partial-captures into a complete image.

The build quality of the PhotoSmart 1200 is excellent. The only part that was found to be a little flimsy was the rubber USB port cover. The MMC/SD and CF card slots are protected by a solid piece of plastic that completely detaches, a problem if you were to forget about it. The unit features a simple onboard LCD display that indicates battery power, selected image quality and remaining space making the device feel similar to a digital camera.

 
The software is user friendly and operating the scanner is straightforward. Scanning photo-sized documents posed no problems, but scanning larger documents on the small scan bed was tedious.

The HP PhotoSmart 1200 ships with a USB cable, setup poster/guide, user manual, and a CD with HP photo and imaging software, HP Instant Share, HP Memories Disc Creator and Arcsoft Panorama Maker. Memory cards and batteries are not included, and the scanner is not capable of recharging the batteries.

Featuring independence from wired power, light weight, small size and the ability to write directly to card media, the HP PhotoSmart 1200 saves on time, space and the bulkier hassles associated with larger scanners.