Canon PIXMA G2010 review: Refillable and reliable

Creating an effective work/study-from-home environment means you not only have to be comfortable but also have all the devices you may need within reach.

These days, we’re excited to fill our workspaces with all the latest and sophisticated tech but one of the staples of an effective home/study area would be the humble printer.

The Canon PIXMA G2010 is a high-volume, refillable tank printer that is looking to be a good choice for the everyday user and maybe even small business. Whether it’s for scanning reports from the office, copying worksheets for the kids, or even printing photos to keep, this device can handle plus its refillable ink tank can help you save money too.

Design

The Canon PIXMA G2010 is a pretty standard-looking printer. It’s an all-in-one device that also offers scanning and copying functions, weighs about 6 kilograms, and is mostly made of plastic.

The flatbed scanner is up on top with the paper feed just behind it. To the right of the scanner are the device’s buttons which include power, maintenance, number of copies, stop, color, and black and white buttons.

There’s also a small LCD screen that indicates the number of copies or pages to print.

Flipping the top half open reveals the printer’s ink tanks. Unlike traditional printers, the PIXMA G2010 uses a more cost-efficient integrated refillable ink tank system. Canon also offers spill-resistant containers for its ink so you’re sure to get every last drop into the printer.

On the right, you can see the ink tanks for color while on the left is the ink tank for black. Flipping the blue panels on either left or right side reveals the tanks’ openings for refilling. These are also transparent so it’s easy to see your ink levels are at a glance.

Performance

To get this printer working, I simply plugged it in. Using the supplied USB cable, my PC was able to instantly recognize and configure the PIXMA G2010. No added software download needed. Unfortunately, this printer isn’t supported on Apple computers.

Should you ever need drivers or apps, though, Canon supplies all of these on its website. And while the printer doesn’t need any additional program to run, I do suggest downloading the IJ Printer Assistant to have easier access to its maintenance tools.

I checked to see if the printer was recognized on different programs and everything seemed to be running smoothly. Canon claims the PIXMA G2010 can print 8 pages per minute for a standard black and white document and 5 pages per minute for colored.

Testing it out ourselves, we indeed were able to print 8 pages in just a minute. We found this to be true for word documents though as printing PDFs took much longer. Printing a full-page, borderless, color photo on A4 glossy photo paper took about 5 minutes.

The PIXMA G2010 accepts the standard paper sizes, envelopes, 5×5-inch prints, and business card sizes. It also offers custom sizes up to 215mm in width and 676mm in length and can handle up to pretty thick 250 GSM paper.

The printer offers up 4800 x 1200dpi for printing which basically means you should be able to achieve sharp and clean prints.

We were really pleased with how the photos we printed on photo paper came out. We used photos take with smartphones and SLRs and the prints came out quite faithful to the source. Colors were accurate and details remained sharp. We also didn’t notice any bleeding either whether from text or photos.

I had a lot of fun printing out photos from our trips because while it’s nice to look at them on the phone or computer, I still do really love having tangible prints to display.

One of our favorite things about the PIXMA G2010 are its integrated ink tanks. By forgoing the traditional cartridges, the printer offers a more cost-efficient option for ink because ink not only takes longer to finish but also doesn’t dry out.

With the tanks also visible, you’ll also easily be able to see whether you need to refill. Seeing the contents of the tank is a great visible reminder to map out when you need to buy refills. And that should be a while, too, because Canon says its ink bottles can last up to 7000 pages.

Scanning or copying were also straightforward tasks. Once you have your document on the flatbed, you can use the onboard buttons to start a color or monochrome copy and indicate how many you would like. Using the native Windows Scan app on my PC, we were also able to achieve clear document scans.

Scanning photos or highly colored documents though didn’t come out as neat but are still recognizable with a good amount of detail and color.

There’s no wireless or network option here, though, which means it will be tethered to a single computer. This makes the device most suitable and most effective for small offices with shared computers or single home users.

It also runs a bit loud especially when you’re cleaning the printer head so that may be an issue for some. We weren’t personally bothered by the noise even if we have a small workspace.

Overall, if we were to sum up the Canon PIXMA G2010 in one word, that word would be dependable. You’re getting a fast printer with good quality and are also saving money with its refillable ink tank system.

Creature Feature

In our reviews, The Modern Creatures aims to find special features in a device that makes it worth having – something that gives it an edge over its competitors. And for the Canon PIXMA G2010, it would have to be its refillable ink tank system.

What makes the Canon PIXMA G2010 a really great home office printer is that it’s pretty low maintenance. With its large ink tanks, you can fill them up and not worry about running out of ink for a  good while. Ink tanks also don’t dry up like some cartridges which means you’re getting the most out of your money with refills.

 

Final Thoughts

The Canon PIXMA G2010 is the printer you buy and forget about. But in a good way. If you’re like us, you won’t need to print all the time but when you do, you just want a no-fuss device that works. And that’s what this printer is. But you may also be asking who else is this printer for?

If you’re more worried about saving ink than having a network or wireless connection then this printer is the way to go. I can imagine this fitting very well in a home office or study where it’s easily accessible by many family members or co-workers.

And whether you’re a student or worker or just need a printer for the house, you’ll benefit from the fast speeds and quality color prints while keeping things light on the pocket with its money-saving ink tanks.

The Canon PIXMA G2010 is already available for PhP 7,595 a.

Get it here: Amazon US, Lazada PH, Shopee PH

 

 

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realme 6 vs realme 6 Pro: Which phone should you buy?

06/15/2020

realme’s latest smartphones in the Philippines come from the 6 series. Starting from the realme 6i which is a budget gaming phone equipped with USB-C, we were later on introduced to the realme 6 and 6 Pro. 

You probably already know the key features of both phones so let’s just quickly do a rundown of both their offerings. 

They both have the same 90Hz refresh rate, 4300mAh battery with 30W Flash Charge, Android 10 OS with realme UI, 4G connectivity, dual-SIM capabilities, splash resistance, placement of fingerprint sensor, USB port, speakers, and headphone jack, and screen resolution.

Design

So where do they differ? Well, the most noticeable would be the back panels’ designs. realme 6 has what the company calls a ‘Striking Comet’ look, while the 6 Pro has this ‘Lightning-inspired’ pattern.

They both have their own appeal but I find the lightning design more eye-catching more so when you use it for shooting and the flashy pattern is just displayed for everyone to see. Meanwhile, my wife prefers the more subtle but elegant vibe the realme 6 has. And adding to the design, both have splash resistance for protection against liquids. 

Another difference between the two is the display size. The realme 6 Pro is just a bit larger at 6.6 inches (vs 6’s 6.5-inch screen) but they do have the same Full HD+ resolution and 90Hz refresh rate for more fluid movements and transitions. 

There’s Corning Gorilla Glass protection on these two devices but the 6 Pro has better reinforcement with the most recent offering (Gorilla Glass 3 vs Gorilla Glass 5). 

Cameras

Though they both have the same quad-camera setup, only the 6 Pro comes with a 12-megapixel telephoto lens while the realme 6 goes for a 2-megapixel portrait camera for adding extra depth. The rest carry similar 64-megapixel main, 8-megapixel ultra-wide, and 2-megapixel macro shooters. 

In general, the realme 6 takes decent shots with its main camera but compare it with the 6 Pro and you can see that its camera configuration produces better-looking shots than the standard realme 6. Additionally, when it comes to zooming in on subjects, there is a loss of quality for the realme 6 unlike the shots taken with a dedicated telephoto lens. 

For Portrait mode, the realme 6’s dedicated depth sensor makes it possible for cleaner cutouts as compared to the 6 Pro with random jagged edges. These are just some things you notice when you really look at them side by side. 

Shooting in Night Mode, the realme 6 Pro still takes the cake as it can produce clean shots of subjects using its Nightscape 3.0. The realme 6 also has a night mode, but not as effective as the 6 Pro’s. 

As for selfies, you both get a 16-megapixel wide camera but the 6 Pro has an extra 8-megapixel ultra-wide sensor to fit more people and other subjects in. It does come in handy but the main sensor alone also does a good job for your regular selfies. 

Apart from those, both phones have Pro Mode, Time Lapse, and Slow Mo that can shoot up to 240fps — one of The Modern Creatures’ favorite camera features!

Performance

Heading over to its internals, these two phones run on different platforms. The realme 6 sports a MediaTek Helio G90T processor while the 6 Pro carries a Snapdragon 720G CPU. 

The 720G on the 6 Pro is made to further improve mobile gaming experience. So in addition to having better optics for photography and videography, the 6 Pro is also built to handle heavy games — and we’ve proven that during our review.

But that doesn’t mean the realme 6 underperforms while gaming. No, its Helio G90T is actually a tried and tested processor and also delivers impressive capabilities as an everyday phone. 

We’ve played popular titles on it and it unsurprisingly handled Mobile Legends, Asphalt 9, and PUBG Mobile with ease. 

For battery life, we previously mentioned the 6 Pro lasting up to eight hours of continuous gaming before we needed to charge it up. For the realme 6 and its same battery capacity, it fell short from the performance of its bigger sibling at just six hours and 22 minutes of play time. 

But, with the promise of one hour charging time, the realme 6 took about five minutes faster to charge than the 6 Pro from 0-100%. 

Conclusion

So what can we take away from this? Well, it’s evident that they’re alike in many ways but the Pro variant has certain specialties.

But if you’re just looking for a reliable phone that you can use as a daily driver, the realme 6 is more than enough. It has a fast charging time like the 6 Pro, almost the same quad-camera setup, and a processor powerful enough to handle gaming. 

Although if you’re more particular with the shots you capture using a smartphone, definitely go for the 6 Pro. As we’ve mentioned in our review, it does go beyond the usual capabilities of a camera phone and offers more features to help achieve better footage.

Its battery life is also longer plus, only the 6 Pro has Dolby Atmos and Hi-Res audio. So those are some things to keep in mind. 

The decision-making process doesn’t simply end on what these phones can do. Pricing is, of course, a huge aspect when buying a new phone. So for the realme 6 Pro and all its extra features, you’d have to shell out PhP 16,990. While the realme 6 starts only at PhP 11,990 — that’s a PhP 5,000 difference and you still get a really capable phone.

There’s also a more expensive realme 6 with double the RAM at PhP 13,990 but still PhP 3,000 cheaper than the 6 Pro.

So all things considered, the realme 6 offers more bang for your buck. But, if you need those impressive low light images and that telephoto lens — and believe me, they do come in handy — then, by all means, go for the 6 Pro as it’s still a really good buy. 

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