When buying your next office printer, as technology evolves it is important consider whether the device you purchase can work with your tablets and smart phones as well as the traditional desktop and laptops.

CanadaOne recently reviewed the HP OfficeJet 8600 Plus "e All-in-one" printer, which offers advanced print and scan options through mobile devices.

When buying a printer, cost, quality and flexibility are all important features. What impressed us with the HP OfficeJet 8600 Plus was how easy it was to scan and print documents from both tablet and smartphone devices.

We tested the printer using the iPad 3 (IOS 5), ASUS Transformer Primer (Android) as well as both Android and iPhone smartphones. The following video shows us both printing and scanning from the iPad 3.

The process of setting up the HP ePrint apps was simple and we actually found it easier to connect to the printer through these devices than through the regular desktop computers in our office.

A feature that we really liked was the ability to snap photos at a remote location and then send them to the printer using a custom email address. It is possible to send up to five medium resolution photos in a single email.

Another nice thing about the printer was the 4.3" colour graphics display (CGD) touch screen on the front of the device, which made the process of moving through different menus to control the printer a synch.

We did encounter a few problems with was the print quality using the ink cartridges that came with the printer. Switching to new ink cartridges resolved that concern.

If you are considering a new all-in-one printer for your office, purchasing a machine that is compatible with a variety of mobile devices will be key to extending the lifetime of the devices for as long as possible. Overall we were impressed with the flexibility and performance of the HP OfficeJet 8600 Plus, which retails at

HP OfficeJet 8600 Plus - Key Specs:

The HP OfficeJet 8600 Plus can print up to 20 pages per minute (ppm) in black and up 16 ppm in colour, with print resolutions of 1200 x 600 dpi in black and 4800 x 2100 dpi in colour. In terms of page, it is possible to print up to legal sized documents and weights of up to 90 - 110 card stock.

The printer has a scan resolution of 4800 dpi and copy resolution of 1200 x 600 dpi.

There are many ways to connect to the printer. In addition to the standard Ethernet connection and 802.1n wi-fi options, it also has two USB 2.0 ports, two RJ-11 modem ports and memory card slots that enable you to quickly print from the memory card on your digital devices.