Sony Cyber-shot DSC-G3

LCD Screen
Sony has a tradition of making LCDs that have an almost ludicrous level of resolution, and the DSC-G3 is no exception. It squeezes 921,000 pixels into 3.5" of diagonal space. However, most of the menu system felt like it didn't take proper accounting for this high resolution, as it looks fuzzy. Since the LCD is the primary method of interface for the camera, a lot rides on its abilities to respond properly, promptly and accurately to your inputs. Unfortunately, we found that the Sony didn't quite live up to the hopes we had. Part of this comes from the fact that it's a resistive touch screen, which means it needs to be re-calibrated regularly, and requires a stylus if you have anything but the finest of fingers. The touch screen system is also quite slow, which means you don't always know if you've pressed something as it takes a second to process, so you may accidentally press a couple of times trying to get it to respond. Finally, one of the inherent problems with any type of touch screen is the fact that it will inevitably get smeared with fingerprints, making the screen smudged and harder to read.

Lens
The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-G3 has a tiny Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens, with 4x optical zoom (equivalent to 35-140mm on a 35mm camera), with an aperture range of f/3.5 to f/4.6.  It's tucked away on the top right corner of the camera, so be careful that errant fingers don't get in its way. The maximum aperture of f/3.5 is slightly slow, which may mean trouble shooting in low light situations.

Memory
Once again, Sony demands that you use the proprietary Memory Stick format with this camera. These cards are available in sizes up to 16GB, though are not as plentiful or inexpensive as SDHC cards.

 

Other Features
Wi-Fi and Browser – The big drawing card for the G3 is the Wi-Fi capabilities that this camera boasts. Rather than just being tied to a single provider, or to public and private wireless hotspots, the G3 has a fully functional browser, which means you can purchase Wi-Fi functionality at any hotel or airport and upload your images. This also means you can go to any website to upload your pictures, or surreptitiously surf the web when you're meant to be reviewing cameras. This is the first time we've seen a full browser in a digital camera, and look forward to testing it beyond the bounds of the trade show floor.  In an  agreement with AT&T, buyers will also get access to all the AT&T Wi-FI hotspots across the country (including Starbucks and McDonalds) until 2012. We've uploaded an animation of the process of uploading a picture to Picasa below, and it's surprisingly straightforward. The G3 uses Netfront, a web browser designed to be embedded in small devices, usually mobile phones. The version of the software we briefly used was pre-production and under the duress of the show-room floor, so we look forward to seeing how well it works in our lab tests.