Sony Handycam HDR-XR100 photos

The XR100's design is utterly average. The two-tone black and silver coloring isn't terribly stylish, nor is the camcorder particularly compact or lightweight.

Like most touch-screen camcorders, the XR100 has few buttons. The still/video mode button is a bit flat and hard to feel.

Though it's nice that the camcorder ships with a big battery--even so, the battery only lasts about 50 minutes under typical usage--it protrudes extra-unattractively from the back of the unit.

The XR100's zoom switch feels a bit loose and it's hard to get a nice consistent speed out of it.