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Samsung SH100 review: Samsung SH100

Samsung SH100

Headshot of Joshua Goldman
Headshot of Joshua Goldman
Joshua Goldman Managing Editor / Advice
Managing Editor Josh Goldman is a laptop expert and has been writing about and reviewing them since built-in Wi-Fi was an optional feature. He also covers almost anything connected to a PC, including keyboards, mice, USB-C docks and PC gaming accessories. In addition, he writes about cameras, including action cams and drones. And while he doesn't consider himself a gamer, he spends entirely too much time playing them.
Expertise Laptops, desktops and computer and PC gaming accessories including keyboards, mice and controllers, cameras, action cameras and drones Credentials
  • More than two decades experience writing about PCs and accessories, and 15 years writing about cameras of all kinds.
Joshua Goldman
7 min read

Samsung seems to be the only camera manufacturer really pushing forward with Wi-Fi in its cameras. It's launched a handful of wireless-enabled models over the past couple years, but they've been mysteriously hard to come by, so I haven't been able to review one. That changes with the SH100.

7.6

Samsung SH100

The Good

The <b>Samsung SH100</b> has features tailor-made for people wanting the functionality of their smartphone camera in a point-and-shoot.

The Bad

The SH100's low-light photos are not good and its performance can be slow. Also, wireless uploads are limited to 2-megapixel photos and 30-second low-res movie clips.

The Bottom Line

If you like all the photo apps for your smartphone camera but miss having an optical zoom, the Samsung SH100 is the point-and-shoot for you.

The camera has built-in 802.11n wireless that can be used to connect to your Wi-Fi network for automatic backups or viewing on DLNA-equipped devices; connect to other Samsung Wi-Fi cameras for sharing; connect to hot spots including those provided by Boingo (an account comes with the SH100) or wirelessly tether to a smartphone; and connect to an Android 2.2-powered Galaxy S smartphone, 7-inch Galaxy Tab, or iPhone 4 with iOS 4.3.

That last option can be used to upload content to sharing sites, but it will also allow you to control the camera remotely. Your display turns into a viewfinder and you can move the camera's zoom lens as well as hit the shutter release. It'll also use the phone's GPS receiver to geotag your shots. (Samsung plans to extend these features to other non-Samsung Android smartphones as well.)

Outside of the wireless features, the camera is just a nice ultracompact. It's using a 14-megapixel CCD (1/2.3-inch type), a 26mm-equivalent wide-angle lens with a 5x optical zoom, and a 3-inch touch-screen LCD, and shooting modes are automatic, meaning there's no full control over aperture and shutter speed. In fact, using it is a lot like using a smartphone camera due to an abundance of filters and simple editing tools. Oddly, given the extensive shooting features, Samsung used digital image stabilization--not optical or mechanical--which is its biggest feature shortcoming.

7.6

Samsung SH100

Score Breakdown

Design 8Features 9Performance 7Image quality 6