Sony DSC W310

One of eight W-series Cyber-shots released in January 2010, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W310 is a 12 Megapixel model with a 4x optical zoom and 2.7in screen. While most of the new W-series Cyber-shots are 14 Megapixel models, the W310 is an entry-level model which, though it lacks many of the sophisticated features of its more expensive W-series siblings, is positioned to compete on price with similarly specified best selling compacts from other manufacturers - these include the Nikon COOLPIX S3000 and the Canon IXUS 105 / SD1300 IS which we've compared it to here.

The Cyber-shot DSC-W310 falls firmly into the point-and-shoot category, providing some control over shooting settings like white balance, metering mode and ISO sensitivity. It includes consumer-friendly features like scene recognition, face detection and smile shutter, but doesn't provide optical image stabilisation, opting instead for Sony's SteadyShot blur reduction image processing.

The W310 can shoot 640 x 480 pixel VGA resolution video at 30 frames per second and has a dedicated movie mode switch making it ideal if you're looking for a compact that's equally at home shooting movies as stills. Like most new Sony compacts, as well as Sony's proprietary Memory Stick Duo and Memory Stick Pro Duo media, the W310 will also accept SD and SDHC cards.