Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T700 (Silver)

Pros: Compact design. Internal optics. Feature rich. 4GB of internal memory. Not much in the way of mechaincal things to break. Better than average shot to shot times.

Cons: Sony proprietary connector/software means difficult to share photos and renders internal memory worthless to me. Must remove battery from camera to charge. Touch screen and menus can be a drag sometimes.

Summary: I was looking for a compact camera with internal optics (i.e. no lens that comes out of the body) since my wife's 5 year old cousin dropped my 3 year old Casio right on the optics, and that was the end of that camera. For what I wanted it for, it fits the bill perfectly. I feel confident that I can hand this to a kid and they won't be able to break it. However, there are a few drawbacks that make me de-rate it. The first, which I should have known, is that the connector is proprietary and it requires the software to get the photos off the memory built into the camera. That stinks if you are traveling, you have to take YOUR laptop. I take my camera every where I go with my kids, and when at relatives houses, I like to take pictures, and then just leave them there. In the past, I would just pop out my SD card and either use a standard usb cable, and have the camera show up as removable storage, or pull out the SD card and plug that directly into a reader in a computer, or a usb adapter that I carry in my camera bag. Realizing this, I will probably go get a 4 gb MS duo card plus usb adapter now, which kind of defeats the purpose of having the internal memory. That was -1 star in my book, but pretty par for the course for Sony. The other big nit was that to charge the battery, you have to remove it from the camera and plug it into a battery charger. I was able to keep my old camera plugged into it's usb cable and it could charge off the computer. That is -1/2 a star.