When Canon first showed us the PowerShot S100, we were very pleased to see a thin rubber strip on its front to give it a little extra purchase. So when we saw that this is missing from the Canon PowerShot S110 that replaces the S100, we were a bit disappointed.

To be fair though, the Canon S110 is a very light, compact camera, and holding it in one hand isn’t exactly difficult. But its smooth surface is a little on the slippery side.

Inside the Canon S110 is the same 12.1 million pixel sensor and Digic 5 processor as in is in the larger Canon G15, announced alongside it at Photokina 2012. We have yet to fully test either camera, but going on past experience with the Canon G12 and Canon S100, the results should be pretty decent.

Smart camera

Although it is smaller than the Canon G15, the Canon S110 has a couple of features that we would have liked to have seen in the bigger camera – namely Wi-Fi and GPS via mobile technology.

The first enables you to upload and share images via the internet without the need to tether the camera to a computer, while the latter enables the camera to use a smartphone GPS system to tag images with their shooting location.

Neither of these is exactly essential, but they are useful, fun additions that we take for granted with smartphones.

We also like the fact that the Canon S110 has a capacitive 3-inch 460,000-dot touchscreen that can be used for making settings selections or, when using the touch shutter option, to select the focus point, focus the lens and fire the shutter.

It seemed pretty responsive and effective when we used it for a short while among the Photokina 2012 trade show stands.

Manual controls

As on the Canon S100, the ring around the Canon S110’s lens can be used for changing key settings.

A button on the back of the camera provides access to the nine options, including aspects such as exposure mode, exposure compensation, white balance and sensitivity, and then rotating the ring changes the settings. It’s a very quick and easy approach.

The Canon PowerShot S110 HS has a full price of £429.99 in the UK and $449.99 in the US, and will be available from late October, putting it up against its sibling the Canon SX50 HS and rivals including the Nikon P7700 and Panasonic LX7.

Early verdict

In many respects the Canon S110 is a relatively minor upgrade of the Canon S100, with the addition of a touchscreen, Wi-Fi connectivity and GPS technology.

As before, images can be recorded in raw format and a mode dial enables you to choose between user-friendly scene modes and the more advanced program, shutter priority, aperture priority and manual mode.

The loss of the rubber strip on the front of the camera is a shame, but the Canon S110 is a very attractive, pocketable camera for enthusiast photographers, and we anticipate a heated debate about who tests the final production sample when it comes into the office for our full review.