Samsung TL320 – An AMOLED Display Camera
Sum and Substance:
Thumbs Up:
Great features, AMOLED display.
Thumbs Down:
Photo quality is bad after ISO 200
Inside the Trunk:
Bundled software - Drivers & Utilities, Apple QuickTime, Samsung Master, Adobe Reader.
The Whiz Kid Speaks:
TL 320 is a 12 mega pixels camera, the light sensitivity options includes ISO 3200 (3Mpix), ISO auto, ISO 1600, ISO 800, ISO 400, ISO 200, ISO 100, ISO 80. The camera has 5x digital zoom. Shooting programs include Backlight portrait, Night portrait, Portrait mode, Frame guide, Beauty shot, Night mode, Macro text, Beach/snow, Back light, Anti shake, Landscape, Fireworks, Close-up, Children, Tripod, Sunset, Action, White, Macro, Text, Dawn.
The camera has 3 inch AMOLED display. Connectors on the camera include DC power input, USB and HDMI and there is card slot. Special effects include Color Filter, Negative, Classic, Forest, Vivid, Retro, Noise, Soft, Cool, Calm. Maximum Shutter Speed 1/2000 sec, minimum shutter speed is 16 seconds. Exposure modes include Aperture-priority, Shutter-priority, Automatic, Program, Manual. White balance presets include Fluorescent light (warm white), Fluorescent light (daylight), Tungsten light, 2800K – 10000K, Daylight, Cloudy.
Videos are stored in H.264, images are stored in JPEG. Video capture resolution options are H.264 – 320 x 240, H.264 – 640 x 480, H.264 – 1280 x 720. Image resolutions are JPEG 1024 x 768, JPEG 1920 x 1080, JPEG 2048 x 1536, JPEG 2592 x 1944, JPEG 3264 x 2448, JPEG 2976 x 2976, JPEG 3968 x 2232, JPEG 3984 x 2656, JPEG 4000 x 3000. The camera has internal memory of 76 MB and the card slot can take MultiMediaCard and SD memory card.
Flash modes include Red-eye reduction, Flash OFF mode, Slow synchro, Fill-in mode, Auto mode. Additional features include Digital image stabilization, Auto Contrast Balance (ACB), Smile Detection technology, Scene Detection Technology, Blink Detection technology, Dual image stabilization, 720p HD movie recording, Digital image rotation, USB 2.0 compatibility, In-camera red-eye fix, Saturation control, PictBridge support, Exif Print support, Brightness control, Sharpness control, Resizing an image, Contrast control, Built-in speaker, Audio recording, Face detection, Face retouch, Direct print, DPOF support.
The camera has Zoom lens – 4.3 mm – 21.5 mm – F/2.8-7.3, with focal length of 4.3 mm – 21.5 mm, minimum focus range is 15.7 in, macro focus range is 5 cm, lens aperture is F/2.8-7.3, optical zoom 5x. The phone is powered by Samsung SLB-11A Li-ion rechargeable battery – 1130 mAh
Razzle Dazzle:
TL320 is a sleek all black camera which is quite thin and hence will fit very comfortably in your pants pocket. Though the phone looks attractive it is just like any other camera and not much has been done to grab the attention of people. We don’t blame Samsung for this, maybe they wanted to make a simple looking camera. The camera is indeed looks simple but has loads of features inside.
Inside Dope:
It is quite rare to find a camera which offer control over the pictures and still stay in the ultra compact range. TL320 is one of them, it gives you control over saturation, contrast, tweaking of sharpness, shutter speeds and aperture, color and white balance. We really liked this camera for the amount of features that it offered, however the photo quality didn’t live up to our expectations.
Usually you find a LCD in the back of the camera but this one has a three inch AMOLED display screen which is used in high end mobile phones. AMOLED phones gives you crisper image due to their superior quality. The brightness of the screen is more and it can stand bright sunlight. Finally AMOLED is economical on batteries as they consume less power.
There are two gauges on the top of the device which we thought was a nice innovative feature on a camera. The gauges are for battery life and memory card space on the camera. Other buttons on the top of the device include recessed mode dial for shooting, shutter release and power button. On the back of the device there is Fn (Function) key, playback key, circular navigation button and the menu button.
The function key is for shooting menu and you get a really attractive interface with which you can get access to display, shooting functions, settings and sound. We were disappointed to see a proprietary jack for AV output, power and data. The camera comes bundled with a USB cord for charging through computer or wall outlet and for connecting to a large TV there is an analog cable.
The TL320 is packed with features and adjustability options so much that some might get intimidated. There are eleven different scene types to choose from and if you are confused, you can always select the Smart Auto mode. There are thirteen scene types including an option called Frame Guide which lets you compose a shot, capture a part of the scene and then give the device to someone to capture the photo so that you can get in it. Auto mode locks the options from being changed. Shutter speeds range from 1/2000 of a second to 16 seconds.
The features that the phone had to offer really made us happy; you can fine tune the color temperature and white balance, effective backlight compensation, motion-sensitive shutter release timer and exposure bracketing. The self-portrait face detection gives a beep from the device that lets you know that you are in focus. You can wave your hand in front of the camera which will start a timer and the device will click with the set countdown timer.
The performance of the camera is not the best we have seen but it is OK. It needs 1.99 seconds to wake up and start shooting, subsequent shots take about 2.4 seconds without the flash and 3.6 seconds with flash on. In bright conditions it takes 0.5 second to focus and 0.8 seconds in dim light environments. The continuous drive option takes 0.8 fps.
The photo quality will start dipping as you go beyond ISO 200. The inferiority of the sharpness starts to get in and there is graininess in the photos when you view them at 100%. At ISO 400 the amount of details is still good but the noise reductions makes things soft and hazy. This will further increase at settings of ISO 1600 and ISO 800. However for small prints ISO 800 quality is acceptable.
We liked the exposure, white balance and color of the device. For the latter you can always play with the setting if you are not happy with the reproduction in photos. We were pleased with the video quality of the camera; you can use zoom and optical image stabilization white recording.
Nitty Gritty:
Samsung TL320 is priced at about $300 and we think it is justified considering the features it packs in. The photo quality is a bit inferior to other point-and-shoot cameras but TL320 will time and again win hearts with its features.
