Product Category: Digital Camera (Point-And-Shoot Variety)

Manufacturer: Samsung

Where to Buy: Amazon.com [USA, Affiliate] / Best Buy.ca [Canada]

Price: $199.99 CDN

System Requirements: Wi-Fi connection (Supports B, G, and N)

Specifications: Provided by Samsung

Pros:

• Simple and quick wireless media uploading;
• Amazing photo quality;
• Impressive battery life;
• Amusing photo editing options.

Cons:

• Complicated menus slow down useability;
• Video quality leaves a little to be desired;
• Limited destination options for uploading photos.

Summary: It was more than four years ago that I first heard mention of Wi-Fi enabled cameras. It was theoretical technology at the time, and I was intrigued. Imagine being able to upload your pictures right from your camera! So when presented with the opportunity to try out one of these mythical beasts my excitement was boundless. And it absolutely lives up the expectations I had. Unfortunately, those expectations were from a time before the iPhone, before smartphones in general. Camera phones existed, sure, but they were of no notable quality. These days however we have phones capable of taking HD video and sending it out into the world instantly. This camera can do that too, but only with a Wi-Fi connection. That can actually be surprisingly limiting at times. For example, uploading pictures from a party is simple (What sports bar or apartment building doesn't have an unlocked connection these days?) vs trying to upload them while out in public (Can't find a Starbucks? I guess it'll have to wait). I found myself thinking that it would be better if it was 3G enabled, to really let you upload anytime, from anywhere. And then I considered that, really, we already have our smartphones for that. And they can make phone calls, too. This camera comes pre-installed with a number of picture editing programs that are incredibly fun to play with, but I have also already seen countless apps that offer the same functions. That's not to say I haven't very much enjoyed my time with it - its picture quality is fantastic and the touch screen is very nice. But I know that, while the cameras in smart phones are not quite there yet, it's only a matter of time before their quality improves enough that I worry the SH100 will have to fight hard to keep its place in the market. But in the meantime this camera is one of the most fun to play with I've ever used. From a point-and-shoot, it's hard to ask for more.

A note before I get started: as I have previously stated I am not a professional photographer. I take a lot of pictures, but with no degree of training. If you're looking for a detailed technical review of the camera then I'm afraid that this is not it. This is a review of the camera's useability and functionality for the average recreational photographer.

The Camera

Figure 1: The beast itself. Camera and stylus for the touch screen.

I won't bore you with the unboxing details, other than that I had a few fun moments trying to figure out how/where to attach the stylus to the camera. The stylus is your typical plastic nib, giving you pinpoint accuracy when using the touch screen menus. A word of warning; buy a screen protector and apply it before you even turn on the camera. The stylus nib is small and the demo model had scratches on the screen before I even got my hands on it. I've resorted to using my fingers instead - I'd rather have fingerprints on the screen than permanent marks.

The camera is a good weight and has a nice streamlined body. Including the power and shutter-zoom, there are only four physical buttons. The designers really want you to rely on the touch screen. The screen is crystal clear, has pretty good responsiveness, and the option to re-calibrate when necessary. But we still have the Review and Home (menu) buttons. Review lets you switch in and out of viewfinder and album review modes. It also allows you to review your album without having to first extend the lens (a nice power- and time-saver). The Home button is your gateway to camera features. There are four menu pages with 28 individual options, and each option has its own customizable menu settings. There is an awful lot going on in this camera. But I don't want to keep you waiting for the main feature. We're all here for the Wi-Fi, so without further ado...

Upload Pictures On The Go

Figure 2: Promotional images from Samsung. The Internet is yours!

Imagine, you could take a picture of a glorious sunset, and then send it to your album while you're still watching it happen. Or you witness a hilarious moment at a party that needs to be shared on Facebook right now, you can do it. That is what this camera promises, and it delivers. Sure, your iPhone may be able to do the same thing, but with 14 mega pixels? Make no mistake, this is a camera first. But the creative minds at Samsung really went all-out, trying to utilize every potential aspect of the SH100's 'net connectivity. You have a surprisingly wide range of options when it comes to sharing and storing your photographs.

• Email is exactly that - emailing the image to the address of your choice, with the ability to use your own address as the Sender info, to avoid the image being sent to the recipient's junk mail folder.
• Auto Backup is brilliant use of Wi-Fi. Install the Auto Backup software on your computer and after setting up your folders your camera is now enabled to auto-dump its contents onto your home hard drive. Set it up, walk away, and sort them later.
• AllShare lets you use your TV as your display - reviewing your pictures and movies in HD. You need a Wi-Fi enabled TV though.
• Camera to Camera is a feature that I don't think a lot of people will be able to use for a while (you need to know at least one other person with an SH100), but it's still very clever. It's frustrating trying to take large group photos when every single person in said photo wants it taken on their camera too. Camera to Camera lets you take one picture, and then send it to everyone else's cameras. Problem solved, time saved!

There is a further subset of transfer options called Web, but I've decided to separate it from the others because I need to make a digression. Naturally upon unboxing the SH100, the first thing I did was take some pictures and try to upload them to Flickr. Only to find my dreams crashing down around me: this camera is not enabled to send to Flickr. Nor Twitpic for that matter. My upload options are Facebook, Youtube (with a further caveat, dealt with in the Video section of the review), Picasa, Photobucket, and then Samsung's own storage option, Samsung Imaging. And I am faced with a conundrum because, you see, I am a Flickr girl, I've been a paying member for years. I won't go into why I chose Flickr over its competitors (I don't work for them, and am already giving them my own money, they don't need me to send them yours), but just note that it is, at least for me, an issue. It turns out that I have a Picasa album through my Google account, but this did not immediately prove to be a solution as I had no idea what the password might be. So, for my first upload attempt, I was forced to send a random, untitled/tagged picture to my Facebook account.

Figure 3: My lunch that day. It looks so good in this picture that I want to eat it again.

Sending to Photobucket/Picasa is just fine as the pictures are sent to new albums and you can always tag them later. And technically the same is true for photos sent to Facebook, but it is a little strange for others to see, for example, smoked salmon appear randomly in their news feed. Well, unless they know me well, then they should expect it. My gripes aside though, the camera does exactly what it said it would. Transfers my pictures, full size, to those sites. I can only hope, though, that future versions or at least firmware updates will allow for the addition of Flickr and Twitpic etc. as upload destinations. In the meantime the transfers are easy and pretty fast considering I take all of my pictures at the largest possible size. The only hurdle is the effort it takes to type in your user ID and passwords for each website the first time you want to send something there. The camera does retain the information though which is, I feel, a mixed blessing. On the one hand you save a lot of time by not having to re-enter constantly, but I am uneasy when I think of the potential repercussions of losing the camera, or having it stolen. I don't know if it's possible to extract that login info from the camera but, even if it's not, I'm cynical enough to assume that unscrupulous people would still want to mess with the camera's owner. If I lost the SH100 I'd have to warn all of my friends to expect to see random images crop up that are worse than surprise smoked salmon.

Ultimately, as I said, I feel that they did a good job of covering all the bases of web-connectivity. I'd be hard pressed to come up with more, or better ideas. I wish I could go back in time and tell Past Me that I'd one day get to see that web-camera idea realized.