LAS VEGAS -- You, Gadget Lab reader, are a nerd. We mean that in a good way. Example: your digital photos are all uploaded from your camera daily, whereupon you categorize and organazize them, keywords and all. You know you do.
Your mother, by contrast, never lets her camera near a computer. Slideshows consist of crowding around the rear LCD display, and she starts deleting old pictures when the memory gets low. Samsung's TL100, announced at CES 2009, is for her.
First, the 12.2 megapixel camera comes in a purse-friendly 16.6mm (0.65") thick, has a big 2.7" screen for viewing and has the usual face detection and image stabilization. What's new, though, is the Smart Auto, which detects exactly what you are snapping and picks the exposure mode. Shoot people and it switches to portrait mode. Shoot a landscape and you get, yes, landscape mode. Neat, especially as mom probably never takes the camera off auto.
Further, there are Smart Albums for in-camera storage, a feature which groups similar images and videos. It won't let you show all the pictures which have a grandchild in them, but it narrows the selection based on color, filetype or date. Basic but useful, and no keywording required. Price and availability are both CES standard: Unannounced, but expect it at around $250.
Press release [Samsung]
