Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T700

Size / Portability (11.00)
The T700 is pocket-sized, though surprisingly heavy given it's diminutive stature. That said, we're actually very fond of slightly weightier cameras, as they feel more stable in the hand. It's 3 3/4 inches wide by 2 3/8 inches high by 21/32 inch deep (95 x 58.4 x 16.44 mm) and weighs 5.6 oz (160g). To put that in perspective, it's shorter and narrower than an iPhone 3G, but deeper and slightly heavier. It's small enough to slide into all but the tightest of pockets, and takes up next to no space in your purse or bag.

Handling Ability (8.00)
As mentioned above, the T700 feels a bit heavy for its size, but this isn't a bad thing, as it gives it a feeling of solidness, and the solid grip helps prevent camera shake. The use of dual methods for powering the camera up, either via the Power button or by sliding down the lens cover, can be quite handy, since opening the front panel can save you fumbling for a small button in low light. The handling problems we did find center on the rear of the camera.  Due to the size of the touch screen, the only area set aside for a grip is an extremely narrow strip of raised material on the far right of the screen. The completely flat front offers no concessions to the need to hold the camera steady either. We would suggest keeping the wrist strap on whenever possible, as it would be easy to drop the T700. At least the case feels like it could take a knock or two.

The other handling issue we had was the sluggish and imprecise response from the touch screen. The constant frustration of dealing with not-quite-responsive-enough controls is aggravating, and a major flaw of current touch screens compared to button-based cameras.

The T700 is small, and a little hard to grip tightly

Control Button / Dial Positioning / Size (5.75)
The Sony DSC-T700 has minimal buttons and physical controls. The only functions ascribed to dedicated (versus touch screen) controls are power, shutter, zoom and playback, all of which are located on the top right of the camera. Luckily, with so few buttons, and all of them shaped differently, it's highly unlikely you'll press the wrong one. It's a good thing the zoom control is a physical switch, as it can be quite annoying to constantly tap a touch screen when you want to zoom in or out. All the buttons feel well constructed, and we expect they'll survive a significant amount of wear.

We did run into a problem with the shutter control. As with most cameras, half-depressing the shutter button causes the camera to focus, and fully pressing it down takes the shot. However, with the T700, the button doesn't go very deep, and there's no clear differentiation between a half-press and a full shutter release . Be prepared to take a number of photos accidentally before getting used to it.

The scant physical controls