Samsung make some good gear, like most manufacturers they do have the occasional dog, often there gear is better than the competition or brand leaders BECAUSE they have to try harder.
the comparison you did between a 7.2 & 7.1mp camera indicates the futility of going purely by megapixels in terms of camera quality.
one thing Samsung compact cameras have been faulted for is battery life, especially the ones using AA batteries.
you would only need a flash for indoor photography, or where the light was poor.
if the shots are blurred without flash it would indicate to me that you are not holding the camera firmly enough to remove camera shake (induced by transferring movement from your hand to the camera)... or its using a longer shutter speed. it could be that you are not using the correct program for the conditions. selecting the corect program tells the cmaera what settings to use (it adjusts things like shutter speeds, amount of light /depth of field and in some cases can tweak the sensor / mage processor to get the best out fo the the image.
I'd agree have a look at dpreview and see how it compares
I'd agree you take sme photos with other cameras and see if its your or the cmaera
take different photos with a different program and see if that makes a diffrence... I'd even risk opening the manual that cmae with the camera, and even risk reading it.
consider taking your amera back tot he place where you cought it and see if they can diagnose if its faulty
make sure any comaprison you make between different brands is based on similar prices paid at similar times... its pointelss comparing a camera bought last week with one bought last year (technology changes so rapidly) its pointless comapring say a £50 camera with a £200 camera.
just a last thought.. is the lens clean, has the camera been dropped or otherwise had the sensor compromised