It's a good thing that the TL225's touchscreen is so bright, because it's also prone to smudging (as is the glossy front-LCD area). You won't see many fingerprints and smudges when the displays are turned on, but when they're off, they can look like a finger painting without the paint.

To charge the TL225, you plug it directly into a wall or into the USB port on your computer, without removing the battery; this arrangement may attract some users and irritate others. The TL225's proprietary USB cable comes with a wall-outlet adapter, which means that you use the same cable for charging the camera via USB, charging it via a wall outlet, and offloading photos to your computer.

Its nifty, futuristic tricks notwithstanding, the TL225 has significant drawbacks. Because Samsung opted to have the camera use the microSD/microSDHC storage format, you can't use any SD or SDHC cards that you may already own.

Another weakness is overall image quality. In our lab tests, the TL225 showed an evident lack of sharpness and color accuracy in test shots, though it excelled in flash exposure and in freedom from distortion. In my hands-on tests, I noticed blurry or soft images in many circumstances.

ISO performance was on a par with that of most point-and-shoot cameras. Shots taken at ISO 3200 and 1600 showed significant noise, and those taken at ISO 800 looked a bit pock-marked.