Yeah I agree with the above posts, especially that when you have exterior means of stabilizing (tripod, setting the camera down on something) that the stabilizer should be turned off. I know Canon recomends that. Image stabilization does suck up a bunch of juice from the battery, so if it's not already set this way, switch the stabilizing mode to shoot only. That way it just stabilizes when it counts (as the image is being captured). I noticed a considerable increase in battery life on my g9 doing this.
Also of note is that since it was on auto, I'm going to assume that since the wide shots had much brighter elements, the shutter speeds were increased. Wide shots in general tend to be sharper on point n shoots.
Plus keep in mind that fully zoomed in, optical quality may degrade a little bit just due to the design of the lens.
The SX110 is a great little camera! Do you dabble in using the other modes at all? Or pretty much just have it on autopilot? If the later is true, I suggest trying P instead...Gives you a bit more control while still doing the work for you.