Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T70 in Digital cameras

With most compact cameras offering resolutions so ludicrously high that it almost doesn't matter any more, the battleground has moved on to other areas. Chief among these is design.

On this front, Sony's T70 has it all sewn up. It has a remarkably solid body that feels almost like it's hewn out of a single chunk of aluminium. It's only 90mm wide, but still packs in a 3in display. It manages this little feat by being devoid of buttons at the rear. In fact there are only four physical controls on the whole camera, and one of those is the power button - it's all controlled via the screen and a touch interface.

This needs some work though, since it's difficult to get to grips with initially. Hand the camera to a friend in the pub and they're unlikely to be able to find their way around the interface in the way most people now can with standard camera controls.

With its rounded edges and waif-like dimensions the T70 slides beautifully into a pocket, and the solid construction means it'll probably survive if you forget about it and sit down.

When it comes to shooting, you get assistance from the Super Steadyshot image stabilisation, plus very fast autofocus and shutter response times. Resolution is eight megapixels - relatively low compared to many new models but still far more than adequate, and it helps the high ISO performance by not cramming too many pixels into too small a space on the sensor.

That said, the ISO 3200 sensitivity setting is all but unusable, but ISO 1600 is just about acceptable for Facebook snaps. At lower sensitivity settings, some detail is lost to noise-reduction smearing but you'd be hard-pressed to notice at normal viewing distance.

Downsides include an infuriating proprietary USB cable and Sony's dogged insistence on using its own Memory Stick format rather than SD Card, although the price premium on Memory Stick is less than it once was - shop around and you'll pick up a 4GB card for about £20. A token 31MB of internal flash memory will let you take a few shots, too.

The T70 may not be the last word in image quality, but the sheer class it exudes in its design, build and operation, along with a price tag that's a long way from outrageous, means it outstrips Canon's latest IXUS models and earns the T70 a place on the A List.

Author: David Fearon