Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W290

While not as svelte as Sony's T-series cameras, the Sony W-series are lookers in their own right. Among them, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W290 nabs the best recommendations, with CNET's Joshua Goldman calling it a "compelling package." The W290 is about $100 cheaper than the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T900 (*Est. $320) yet comes equipped with a nearly identical feature set. It has the same 12.1-megapixel sensor and HD video capabilities. There's also plenty of point-and-shoot convenience: face and smile detection and intelligent scene recognition, automatic macro mode and exposure bracketing. Like the T900, the W290's brushed metallic finish comes in four stylish colors: black, blue, bronze and silver.

The biggest departure between the W290 and T900 lies in their size and LCD displays. The W290 is about a third of an inch thicker -- "roughly the size of a deck of cards" -- according to Goldman. And whereas the W290 sports a 3-inch, 230,400-pixel LCD flanked by standard control buttons, the T900 has a stunning 3.5-inch, 920,000-pixel LCD touch-screen display. Goldman says the W290's extra real estate makes for more accurate handling but that the textured body captures finger grease and dirt. Michael Patrick Brady of DigitalCamera-HQ.com finds the controls fussy enough to require "deliberate and focused" attention. An owner at Amazon.com agrees, adding that "you may not be willing to struggle with such tiny controls which are suited more to a child's hand than an adult's."

Although the T900 is the slam-dunk for fashion, the cheaper W290 comes with a longer 5x optical zoom. The 28 mm wide-angle lens makes for great panoramic shots, but unlike the T900, the optical zoom doesn't work when shooting video. The zoom lens also extends beyond the body for a plumper profile. Performance surpasses Goldman's expectations: he finds it comparable to the pricier T900. His only contention is that image softness hovers to the left in shots, and shooting times could be a touch faster. Most users at Amazon.com consider photo and HD quality fantastic, although several call it mediocre at best. Still, the W290 has a zippy 1.3-second power-up to shoot time and 2.3-second shot-to-shot rate. Like the T900, the W290's proprietary memory format is a drawback.