About 25 years ago, Olivetti was one of the pioneers of ink-jet printing, but since then it has been overshadowed by other manufacturers. It's now getting back into the flow, though, with the introduction of the MY_WAY, a novel photo printer with equally novel typography. This printer is available solely through Argos in the UK.

As with all things Olivetti, design plays an important part and this printer is unusual. Styled as a solid, rectangular, black block, it has a rubber carrying handle on one end, can take four AA batteries to work away from the mains and includes Bluetooth connectivity as standard.

The two side panels fold down to reveal the workings of the printer. On the left-hand side you slide in the paper feed tray, which can take up to 20 sheets of 15 x 10cm (6 x 4-inch) paper or, slightly bizarrely, a sheet of half A4, cut lengthways. There's even a little paper cutter provided. Also on the side is an array of memory card slots, though these small black holes in a large black panel are not easy to use.

On the right-hand side is an output slot for prints and a small hatch to provide access to the single, three-colour ink cartridge, which is a little fiddly to fit or replace. At the back of the printer are sockets for mains power and a USB 2 cable, its main data connection.

To run the MY-WAY printer, you slot in the paper tray, which can be clipped to the underside of the printer when you're on the move, and send it data from a PC, memory card or a PictBridge camera. When using card or camera, you control the printer from a column of buttons on its top surface and using the 48mm LCD display. Unlike most photo printers, there's little in the way of a menu system, though you can preview and select your prints from the screen.

Printing is not quick; it took just under two minutes and 40 seconds from a PC and close to three minutes via the PictBridge link. This was in high-quality mode, and in normal mode a print took under two minutes, but the difference in quality between modes is noticeable. Prints in high-quality mode are good, but a bit over-lively. Colours are too vivid by default, though this can be adjusted using the bundled Corel Paint Shop Photo Album software.

The cost of running the printer, including both ink cartridge and paper, comes out at around 35p per print, depending where you shop. This is high in comparison to print costs from typical Epson or HP photo printers, which are around 20p, so you're paying for portability.

Given the street price of the MY_WAY printer, and that it includes a Bluetooth connection, complete portability and flexible connection options, it should be a very good deal. Against this, though, you have to weigh its running costs, which are notably higher than its main competitors, and its print speed, which is lower.