What's 15mm thin, comes in five colors, has a 10.1-megapixel resolution, a 4x optical zoom, and costs $300? Why, it's the new Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T77 digital camera. Oh, and it's got a 3-inch touch-screen LCD as well. The only physical controls on this replacement of the DSC-T70 are for power, shutter, and zoom.
Beyond those specs and its stylish looks, the T77 is a typical pocket camera, with a smattering of modes (10 in all), an ISO 3,200 sensitivity, and optical image stabilization. Sony's made some nice tweaks to some of the modes like the smile recognition mode that allows it to continue to take photo after photo when it detects smiles without you ever hitting the shutter button. There's blink recognition so you never get caught with your eyes closed, a new gourmet mode for shooting your food, and intelligent scene mode selection, which will pick the appropriate mode for your subject.
If all this sounds familiar, it's because the Nikon Coolpixs announced today have similar features. Now, it's just time for us to see who's done the best job with software and implementation.
Look for the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T77 to hit stores in September in black, silver, green, pink, and brown.