Rating: 
Summary: Fair picture quality - at best
Review: My wife and I bought this camera because of the great reviews. Amazon did not have any available at the time, so we bought locally.
The camera was the perfect small size and light weight. We found the hugh manual tiring to read and too many options to operate what is supposed to be a simple pocket camera. But this was all ok, so long as it performed good.
We shot many pictures and started printing some. At first glance we thought, very good. But we then started noticing that every picture, indoors or out (but primarily indoors) was slightly out of focus. So, we took identical shots with this camera and our old fujifilm finepix 2 megapixel camera and printed both. At this point we were very dissatisfied. There was no comparison. The fuji 2 MP pictures were beautiful and clear. The Pentax 4 MP pictures were all relatively fuzzy and out of focus. We tried again, using a tripod on the pentax camera. Same results. We then returned the camera for a refund.
I called customer service, and they had no idea what I was talking about. Said, they never had a complaint like this before. So, we took the $80 SD card purchased for this camera (which we could not return) and when back to the store, put in our sD card in their display model. Took a lot of pictures in the store with it and also the Fuji camera. When home and printed. Found the same results.
We learned a new lesson, that the number of megapixels is not the most important feature of a camera. We believe that because of the miniature size of this camera, possibly the tiny CCD which captures the image is simply not of the best quality. So, I magnified those images 100 times and found that colors were not correctly being duplicated. For example, looking at a black picture frame in the pictures, on the pentax, only about 10% of the dots were black, the rest were mostly light purple or yellow. On the Fuji camera, about 90% of the dots were black.
Hope this is helpful to those concerned with crisp, clear pictures with vivid color. I don't believe the Pentax Optio S4i can deliver on that. Obviously, many people don't look that close at pictures and are only interested in glancing at snapshots. Or, possibly both cameras in this particular store were of lesser quality.
Rating: 
Summary: It's almost all I expected it to be!
Review: So the deal is, I shoot photography in a professional capacity. I recently moved to all digital in my SLRs, which has resulted in some pretty satisfying results. I get awesome picture quality, superb tools for post processing, and no longer really have to hassle with developing film. But one thing was missing... convenience and portability.My pro kit bag weighs in at about 17 pounds fully loaded. My camera and lens of choice weighs in at over four pounds just on its own, and it's hardly what I'd call pocketable. So I started searching for an ultra small, ultraslim camera to do the trick. My search took me to a variety of "influencer" sites including dpreview and others. I read like a madman. I looked at picture quality. I read comments by current users. And I weighed positives against negatives. My choice was narrowed down to the Pentax Optio s4 and I was about to buy, when I found out the new s4i was coming out. It made my choice a lot easier. I'll outline more below. I placed a preorder on Amazon, and took delivery of one of the first shipping models. I guess that's extreme early adopter for you - the camera wasn't even supposed to be available till April 1, but I had mine in my hands by April 2. I've used it for five days now, and while that's a short time to evaluate something, it's long enough for me to give it a thumbs up. Here's what I like: Extreme Small Size: This is one of the smallest digicams on the market, but it's ruggedly built with lots of aluminum and metal surfaces. Large (relative) LCD: a big step up from the s4 is the 1.8" LCD on the s4i. May not seem large, but considering the small size of this camera, it's massive. Streaming Video: very important feature for me. My previous digicam (before I went dSLR) was an Olympus C-5050, and I loved the fact I could fill a memory card with one long video. This one lets me do it too. Image quality's okay: at ISO 50 and 100, images are good, colour tone is decent. At 200 it's losing me, and at 400, it's terrible, but at least it goes to 400 ISO. The lens quality's okay too - nothing's changed from the s4 model, and the sample images you can find online show it's a decent snapshot capture device. "Stupid" Modes: Normally I'm not a fan of what I call "stupid" modes - you know, put the camera into a mode where the camera makes decisions for you (ie Museum mode, Night shot mode, Portrait mode), but I like the versatility in some of the modes on this camera. My faves so far: 3D mode, food mode (works well!), text mode and digital filter mode (I like taking a picture of myself as someone skinny!). "Lifestyle" Features: on top of being a digicam, this camera has additional lifestyle perks. It has a capable audio recorder mode (which I plan to use while conducting interviews for articles I write). It has a world clock function (though accessing it is a bit of a pain, unless you map it to the quick button). It has not one, not two, but three alarms, which can be set for once or daily (hey nice feature - a $350 travel alarm clock!). There are some negatives: Shot to shot performance: in a word, it blows. This thing can take a first shot quick (lag time is very short). But in "high speed" frame mode, you're lucky if you can get one shot every two seconds or more. Maybe if you have it set to manual focus or something. CCD is tiny = Grain, Chromatic distortions: because the CCD inside is so small, you end up with pictures with grain in continuous colour areas, and you see a lot of purple fringing in photos with high contrast. It may be too small: I've got big mitts. This thing feels like it's so small, it may fall out of my hands at times. The textured alum on the front helps though. Overall.
I wasn't expecting a camera that could rival a Nikon D70 or a Canon Eos Digital Rebel in image quality, and you shouldn't either. But if you want a good quality camera for taking snapshots, movies, recording audio (sounds good too), and something you can wear around your neck or make disappear in your pocket, this is the model to beat. I'm very happy with the purchase.
Rating: 
Summary: Just Amazing
Review: This is a great digital camera. As a professional digital camera workshop lecturers, my husband and I have a lot of experience with a wide assortment of digital cameras. We also own the Casio Z4U digital camera which is the competition to this digital camera. So we are not without a lot of knowledge and great deal of experience. The Pentax S4i is a major change from the Pentax S4. The LCD has been enlarged, a docking station is now a part of the package, and the ISO is now adjustable up to 400 ISO instead of the 200 ISO that is available on the Pentax S4. All in all the Pentax S4i is a much improved digital camera when compared to the Pentax S4. While the Casio Z4U measureably looses digital image resolution and quality when digital photos are taken in less than "normal" lighting conditions, where higher ISO settings are required, the Pentax S4i is able to handle increased ISO settings with many fewer problems. In the final analysis, the S4i is a better digital camera in our opinion than Casio's Z4U. However, please keep in mind that the Casio Z4U, while it cannot shoot video clips, does have a "Best Shot" capability which allows pre-set settings which are very convient, especially for beginner or novice digital camera users. The choice is up to the purchaser, however, we feel that the Pentax S4i is a better digital camera than the Casio Z4U.
Rating: 
Summary: EXTREMELY DISSAPOINTED - VERY FRAGILE
Review: This may seem like a copy of a previous review, but the same thing happened to me: lens mechanism failed due to sand/grit. I had this camera all of 3 months. The first time I took it to the beach some sand got inside the lens mechanism. That ended up causing damage and now Pentax wants me to pay $165 to repair the thing. I think this is total b.s. and I'm fighting with them now over this. Sure, this camera takes great pictures, but that's no good to you if it breaks while on vacation. I did NOT abuse this camera or drop it in the sand. The sand probably came from a couple grains in my pocket (I was fully clothed wearing jeans, so it's not like I was in shorts lying down in the sand). I don't know if the seals have a bad design but why release a camera with such a poor design. I would never buy another one of these again. I don't even think I'll spend the $165 to repair it as I have no doubt it will only fail again. I can only hope this review will disuade some people making the same mistake I did. While it worked, it was a fantastic camera and I understand why people rave over it, but I suggest you look somewhere else, or maybe get a pocket camera without a fragile zoom lens. Thanks Pentax!
Rating:
Summary: You'll love it!
Review: While I initially bought it for the size and features, my friends and I can't believe how wonderful the pictures are that it produces! The best thing is that I can keep it with me in my purse and take pictures anytime. It really makes you love taking pictures again. I'm using it in the "best" picture mode, and both the 4x6's and the 8x10's I've produced are fabulous. I had been hooked on my Elph (non-digital APS camera) because of the size and had all but stopped using my 35mm SLR, but this produces better pictures (especially closeups), has all the advantages of digital, and is a lot smaller. A couple of reviews of this camera and its predecessor, the 4s, mentioned that 400 ISO pictures are noisy. While that's true, you'd have to manually select 400 because I have yet to find any of the "auto modes" that choose 400 speed - most are done in 50 or 100 speed regardless of the light, and the shutter speed compensates (and/or the flash compensates). The night mode does a great job if you have a tripod or brace the camera (4 second shutter speed). So unless you want to take a lot of pictures of moving subjects in dim light, or can't hold the camera still, I can't see that it would be an issue for any point-and-shoot type of usage, indoors or out. In comparisons with 8x10 closeup pictures from the Canon S400 and Nikon 4500, I'd challenge you to find any negative differences. The "flower" mode does soften the sharpness a tiny bit, but I found it to be more aesthetically pleasing. If you like it sharper, you can use another setting such as generic "picture mode" or "landscape mode". (It's interesting to review the metadata information on the computer after taking shots with different settings and in different modes. You can see how it adjusted the contrast, saturation, white balance, etc. in addition to the shutter speed/ISO info and more) The best use I've had so far was last Saturday night when my son brought his date here to get prom pictures. I took a few shots (reviewed them on the spot - retook one when I noticed it would look better if she wasn't holding her purse) then came inside, downloaded them, reframed one of them to be closer and printed them out before they left. His date not only had some great pictures from the prom, she had pictures to take TO the prom! Everyone was thrilled!
By the way, I use MicroSoft PictureIt Professional and an HP 2210xi printer to print them, and have found the results to be fantastic. Printing from the Optio software seemed to be fine too. (I was not pleased with the printed results when just using the HP printer software to print - that's true regardless of what camera was used to take the picture or even if you scan in a non-digital photo.)
Rating:
Summary: Best Ultra-Compact currently available
Review: Without question the Pentex Optio S4i is the best ultra-compact currently available. After much research, I have not found another ultra-compact that even comes close in performance, features and small size to the S4i. Currently, its closest competitors are the Konica Minolta Xg and the Sony DSC-T1. The Xg is much larger and lacks many features which are available on the S4i. The only feature better on the Xg is its 320 X 240 @ 30 fps movie mode (320 X 240 @ 15 fps on the S4i). The Sony is also much larger and has a much higher price tag. Again the movie mode is better with the Sony-640 X 480 @ 30 fps. Pros:
-Smallest ultra-compact available in its class
-Excellent quality 4.0MP photos
-Packed with features
-Nice Panoramic mode which provides you with a "ghost" image of
the previous shot to help you align the next shot.
-Very interesting 3D mode
-Excellent Super-Macro
-Many more modes to chose from
-Strong aluminum alloy body has a solid high qualty feel in your hands
-Large LCD screen
-Plugs into your TV for a slide show
-Charges battery in the cradle while battery is in the camera
-320 X 240 @ 15 fps movie mode with sound. Cons:
-Lack of control over shutter speed and aperture (only a concern for those who want complete manual control for depth of field effects and certain light conditions) Consider the Pentex Optio S40 if you want an ulta-compact that uses AA alkaline batteries. Its a little bit bigger than the S4i, yet has the convenience of common batteries. I am very happy with my purchase of the S4i.
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