Over the years the Sony Cyber-shot digital camera has been a popular point-and-shoot camera, so when they announced a new Cyber-shot with a Carl Zeiss 5x optical zoom wide (28mm) lens that takes photos at 12.1 megapixels and shoots 720p HD video, we just had to take a look.

The camera that we looked at is part of the Sony “W” series. Like other Cyber-shots, the W290 is a compact point-and-shoot camera. As shown in Figure 1, it comes packed in a blue-and white cardboard box. The contents of the box are shown in Figure 2. These include the camera itself, a wrist strap, a type G Sony lithium ion rechargeable battery, the battery charger, a combination USB and video cable, an instruction manual, and a software disk. You will note that the charger does not have a cable. Rather, is the type where the plug flips out from the back of the charger. This is a nice feature that makes it more the charger more portable and easier to handle.

click to enlarge
Figure 1: The box.

click to enlarge
Figure 2: What’s inside the box.

The camera itself is compact enough to fit in a shirt pocket. It measures 3 7/8" x 2 3/8" x 29/32" (9.76 cm x 5.74 cm x 2.26 cm) and weighs in at approximately 6.1 oz. (174 g) with battery and memory stick. It is available in silver, black, blue and bronze.