Layout and Design

The Samsung i5 has an overall height and width are not much larger than a business card, which makes toting the camera around a pleasure. A matter of fact, put the camera into the included pouch (which has an integrated belt loop) and you'll truly forget that you're armed and ready to go.

While the camera does feature plenty of scene modes, options, and overrides, Samsung simplified the design by limiting the amount of external controls. The i5 is housed in a stainless steel body and as previously mentioned is available in silver, black, and red. The front of the camera features just a sliding lens cover, which hides and protects the lens, flash, and AF assist light when the camera is turned off.

The top of the camera features the Power on & off button, a SF (safety flash) button, and the shutter release. The sides of the camera have no controls, although the left side of the camera (looking at the front of the camera) has an camera strap eyelet.

The rear of the camera is dominated by the large and bright 2.5" color LCD. The large screen takes up about 2/3" of the rear of the camera making it appear even larger. One problem that I had with the i5 was figuring out where to place my left hand when holding the camera. I always use two hands to hold a camera steady when I take pictures, but with the i5 one of my fingers always seemed to be getting in the way of the lens. I would guess that 15-20% of the pictures I took had some portion of my index finger in it. Because the camera is so small, the screen is so large and positioned to the left, and the lens is on the same side in front of the camera, there is very little "body" to hold.

The bottom of the camera features a pivoting door that accepts the Li-Ion rechargeable battery and SD expansion memory cards.

To the right of the screen are the main controls of the camera:

• The zoom rocker is located on the top right and are positioned nicely for thumb operation.

• Below that is a MODE button which is used to "quick-select" camera modes during picture taking and allows you to put your photos into Albums during playback.

• Taking up half of the back right side of the camera is the the playback button along with a 4-way navigation pad and center Menu/OK button. In camera mode the navigation pad is used to quickly select flash modes, voice recording, self-timer modes, and macro modes. The center Menu/OK button is used to display the on-screen menu options which vary depending on whether you're in camera or playback mode.
• The last button on the back of the camera is the delete button, which is also used to adjust ISO, RGB values, and white-balance settings.