Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W290 12.1 MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Zoom and Super Steady Shot Image Stabilization (Black)

This was a gift that was given to my 21 year old sister for your bday. She really loves the camera. Also, two of wife's sisters received this camera for christmas 2009. They both really like the camera as well.

Bought this for my girlfriend, and now wish I had one. Great point and shoot camera

Beware, if you like this camera buy it only if you believe you will never have to get anything fixed. Sony's customer service/relations is surprisingly terrible. I sent a product in for a superficial fix (at sony's request as part of a recall), I got it back with the lens not working. Understandable, it happens. But sony refused to fix it unless I paid for it or produced my proof of purchase to show it was still under warranty. After 3 hours speaking to various people over the course of two weeks (so it was not just one random person, but seems to be policy), Sony insisted that they would not fix the camera, they basically said 'the camera has a problem and we don't fix anything for free without a proof of purchase, regardless of circumstances'. Blew me away, they would not consider that they could have been at fault, that I would not have sent camera in unless they had asked me to in the first place. Customer relations and marketing have to get together and talk, marketing is spending millions to get me to buy all sorts of high margin products (playstation, flat screens, audio equipment, video cameras, etc) and customer service blows it all away over a fifty dollar fix.

Bought this camera a few months ago to replace a 4 year old Canon Elph. I'm generally happy with it considering the price, and C-Net gave it very good reviews. Had I known about it I would have bought the DSC-H20/B 10.1 instead, because this camera really isn't that much smaller.

+Price to feature ratio is the best out there
+Smile Detection works better than any other camera I've seen. This has been a great feature for capturing my camera shy toddler.
+Picture quality is pretty high.
+Video quality is pretty high, and I don't mind not being able to zoom.

-Auto focus is an absolute must. I could just snap with my old elph and the quality would still be pretty good. With this camera you have to use the focus.
-Picture button is really annoying. It's pretty hard to focus without accidentally snapping a pic. The button itself is too small. I thought I could live with it, but it's pretty annoying.
-Zoom button is a bit of a pain as well. It's on the back of the camera as opposed to near the snap button like on other cameras.
-Can't zoom on video. I knew this when I bought, but I don't use the video feature very much.
-Pretty bulky camera. Atleast 30% bigger than my old elph.

Generally the picture quality is good, but the ease of use is poor. I think sony just wanted to be the first to get HD video in a point & shoot camera of this class, and released it quickly without working out the kinks. Unfortunately this happened at the time when I desperately needed a new camera. I'm happy with the picture and video quality, but now that this camera has a lot of competition, I would not buy it again.

I bought this more expensive camera hoping its quality would be better then the canon I tried about a week or two before but it ends up actually being worse. Pixelation occurs on almost all pictures on the LCD and when you upload it to your computer. My much older casio (6mp from around 2004) still took better pictures then this camera. It also doesn't take what I thought was a standard memory card size

Great camera! I've had it for a couple months - easy, fast, light, portable - NO issues!!!

This is my first camera and really have much expectation about making a good investment. And what can I say, I am very happy that I had chosen this camera, its image quality is very good and if you use the 12-megapixel photos will have an excellent presentation on the details, the video is very good can see very clearly and sharpness. I can only say THANK YOU SONY!!

I'm just an novice photographer, so keep that in mind. My thoughts of this camera is that I couldn't have found a better one for the money. It takes excellent quality pics, and even the stupid pics I took when I accidentally had my finger on the button were in great quality and I was moving my hand pretty fast at the moment of capture. If you're in the market for a great 200 buck camera, you won't go wrong if you get this one.

I've had so many cameras in my lifetime; so many that I couldn't even begin to count. As a pocket P-n-S camera, my W290 is excellent; its pictures are crystal clear, features are abundant, 720p video feature is nice, and so forth. This W290 compares very similarly to my previous Canon SD780, performance-wise. The Canon is smaller, but the Sony has a bigger, nicer LCD screen. All in all, very nice pocket camera to have when I'm not using my Sony and Nikon DSLRs. I have so many cameras that I don't know what to do with them or why I just kept buying more and more. :/

I had a Sony Cyber shot DSC-P10 for 7yrs before buying the DSC-W290 just before Halloween 2009. I expected with the advancement of technology a camera 7yrs newer would blow my old camera out of the water. This was not the case at all. I had to pull out my old camera to go trick-or-treating to ensure I actually got some good pictures. I actually took both cameras to compare later, and yes the 7yr old camera produced much better pictures.

My number one complaint is that it is horrible at taking action shots. I can barely get a picture of my kid sliding down the slide, running, or swinging; it's just one blur of colors. The second complaint is the colors, especially red is all messed up. I'm not a photographer, just a mom who wants to capture my kid's special and not so special moments. I'm not sure what is wrong but reds tend to come out like fireballs where the red objects are almost glowing. I have tried to fix the red but the other colors, which were fine, get dull and washed out.

I guess if you could freeze time, adjust the camera to the new settings, then take the picture you might have a chance of overcoming the short falls of this camera. However, in real life when the moment if gone it's gone.

I can live with the red problem, but missing every picture at an outing with the kids is not an option. I've had this camera and tried every setting for 3 months and I'm looking for a new camera even though for the price it should have met the needs of the basic user.

Outdoor pictures tend to turn out better and landscape pictures are very nice as long as it's well before dusk.

I do like the smile feature, it is much easier to use than a timer. You can allow the camera to take a few pictures before the group moves and therefore increase your odds of getting people looking at the camera and smiling.

The video feature is a great improvement over my old camera. Actually in my opinion if it would only take the pictures with the same settings as it does the video it might actually be a good camera.

I have never been so disappointed in ANY purchase I've EVER made. This camera is cute. Period. I have yet to take a picture with it, regardless of the setting, that is clear enough for any kind of use. This INCLUDES using a tripod. Pictures are blurry, grainy, UGLY. What a waste of money. I'm throwing it in the TRASH after two months of having it and going back to a Canon!! Talk about feeling ripped off... thanks, Sony. :(

Unfortunately, a bad decision to buy this camera, photo camera images of the level of 3 megapixels, the video quality is good

I've had this camera for 4 months now and have taken it on two overseas trips. I've probably taken 900 pictures with it. It's an easy to use small camera that takes great shots when the lighting is good. In low lighting with motion, it can be blurry but I don't know how sensitive the sensors are compare to other cameras so it's tough to say it's better or worse than other cameras. It takes great high definition video.

Had one one problem on the last trip when the temperature was closer to 0-5C (32-40F). In this case the lense cover didn't open or close all the way during multiple uses over 5 days. It's as if there's a lubricant that get stiff in cold weather. I'm back in warm weather now (60F) and only had the issue once since leaving the cold.

The operators manual says that the operating temp is 0-40C (32-104F) which is a bit limiting if you are going to take it with you snow sking or in the desert. Wish they would have had this spec on the Amazon site before I bought it. I'm not sure how other digital cameras are temperature rated.

Youn think you get the best but you are wrong do not buy this camera I used to have a nikon and got this sony now I have lots so problems to put my videos
Into my DVD maker you have to get a converter for it.

Another great product from Sony. I love the ease of use. It has really helped reduce the number of complaints from my wife. My kids are young - 6 and 4, so I dont let them try it, I am sure they would be able to use it equally well. The only issue for me, literally the only one, is that I have to hold the camera in its place for 1-2 secs more after I see the last flash to get the perfect pic. Again, I should expect that as it is not an SLR. Just something I had not expected from Sony, maybe I am expecting too much. The battery has not been designed to hold and use charge to fill 4GB disk with pics in one go. Thats how I rate the battery life.
Pros: Picture quality, Ease of use, HD video, and other standard Sony features
Cons: Picture taking time, Battery life could have been better, Options in menu for certain settings.

I also bought the soft case recommended with the product, but it fits too tight. I need a case that I can quickly put a camera in and take it out with one hand. The case seems to be designed for storage, defeats the purpose of hanging it on the belt. I had a bigger soft case from an earlier camera that I am using instead.

I brought this camera during thanks giving holiday deals. The deal is good and it reached me with the expected date.

I selected this camera because it has a new feature called SMILEY with which it will take pictures automatically when it is on and someone smiling. But this feature not that much working as I expected. Even though I set for very small smile also, It is taking some time to recognize smile and not taking the pictures.

I tried for my daughter, by the time it takes the picture, my daughter stops smiling and I am not getting the smily picture.

Except this, The camera is good and working very fine.

Regards,
Kumar.

I only kept this camera for a short time. I chose this model initially for the wide(ish) angle lens, but like virtually all 12MP cameras with tiny 0.28 cm² sensors, the image quality disappoints. There are a few manual controls, but I could find no way to do a long exposure. The video quality is so-so to poor without ideal lighting conditions, though the sound recording is actually quite good. Lack of zoom during video recording was a deal breaker that I discovered after purchase. If you can live with these sorts of limitations, you might find a tiny Casio better for a point-and-shoot to keep handy.

I bought the camera because of a relatively positive review on CNET. Fairly disappointed with it because of grainy images. Another problem was that the lenses didn't want to come out. I fixed it by taking it out manually (meaning with my fingers). Since then haven't had the problem. Come to think of it, maybe it would have been better not to fix it which would have given me an excuse to return it. The positive thing about the camera is that if you don't mind the grainy images then it's a great value for the money.

Camera was delivered with problem. All high definition pictures and videos shows a white dot.
Looks like a burned dot on the CCD cell.

I tried this camera for a very specific purpose: The HD video quality had to greatly exceed that of my Fujifilm F10's VGA video quality. In a head-to-head comparison, it flunked. The resolution at 720 Fine was not quite as sharp as the F10, and the autofocus searched excessively. The macro function is also not as good as the F10, losing focus at about twice the distance from the subject. For someone less fussy, who doesn't already own an F10, it might be a fine choice. My F10 is 5 years old or so. I hope we don't have to wait too much longer for truly crisp HD in a point and shoot. The limitation might be the compression. It's in motion video that the new Sony seems to lose out.

pros

quick cam, cheap, great functions, video hd 720, good perfomance, great batery, great lcd, awesome bang for the buck, no rivals

slim, good looking, great overall

m2 with adapter and micro sd with adapter works fine

flash is great for night pics, they look very nice

cons
image quality sucks, is not the best at all, even at great light the pics are kinda blurry, not great detail

stupid sony pro duo sticks, are expensive and sucks

video hd is not compatible with dxva

only mp4 video is supported, old sony cam recorded mpeg2, it would be nice having options

sony pro duo clones do not work

taking more than 5 pics in burts mode creates a great lag, but is because of the memory speed, it should have more ram and internal memory for cache

The only downside that I have found so far is that you have to take the battery out to charge it. It comes with this little box that the battery pops into, then that plugs into the wall. Just a little different. Also you cannot zoom while you are taking a video. But the ease of use and picture quality are very very easy. Takes quick pictures in succession, with very clear pics. The image stabilizer seems to work well. Especially for me.

Wow, finally i got this excelent camera from SONY. The 5x optical zoom and flash are awesome. All my photos are very clear. My wife was very happy and decided to keep as a christmas present. All was easy friendly to use and in 5 minutes i was taking all my shots with smile and face detection: all happy faces and perfect shots. I am totally convinced of the great quality of this camera.

Just got this camera for my b-day and I'm very happy with it! Super easy to use - I don't want all the bells and whistles - I just wanted something that would take clear pictures easily. It is replacing a camera I could never get to work properly with terrible directions. If you want a camera that's easy to use, has clear directions and takes nice pictures and video - this is the one for you!

this camera takes excellent HD videos and it can take photos at 16:9, what makes it ideal for wide screens displays

The DSC-W290 is a amazing little camera. Its feature packed and easy to use.To be honest, I needed a camera just to point and shoot and take excellent pictures whether day or night. The DSC-W290 fits the bill perfectly with its Intelligent mode which identifies all different shooting modes and environments automatically, day or night and adjusts appropriately. The LCD screen at the back is large and clear. The picture quality is amazing with crisp pictures and life-like rich colors. Even more amazing is the high-def video in 780i, total treat to watch on the big screen. The shoot-when-smiling mode actually works great too.

Another little thing - On the second day I bought the camera, I dropped it while it was still turned on. It fell hard, lens first on a rock and went bouncing. The impact bent the cylinder holding the lens. Once retracted it was stuck for good with the motor whirring trying to extend out the lens anytime I turned it on. It also suffered some dings and scratches. Even though it was my fault and the warranty was void as it was an accident, Sony service center repaired it for free and shipped it back within a week. I have to commend Sony on the quality and timeliness of the service provided. The camera worked like new and I couldn't be happier with this product and Sony's service.

Cons - The battery life is just around an hour or probably less when you are in video mode quite a bit. But you should be able to get a replacement battery for about $15. There is no zoom while in video mode.

A good add-on would be a 8Gb Sandisk memory card and a replacement battery to extend your shooting experience.

I don't care how great the quality or photos are, not being able to zoom while recording is a big problem. I'm very disappointed Sony decided to take this route because I have Sony digital cameras from 2004 that allowed you to zoom while recording so I do not understand why they took this huge step backward. I've sold my camera for this reason and told people to stay away. All the Kodaks that have been doing HD video since 2007 have been able to use full zoom while recording.

Image display is fine, but I prefer a viewfinder to compose my shots. Sony has decided to eliminate the veiw finder, perhaps because amateurs like to hold the camera in front of them and check the display to see what they will get from the shot. Am I getting old school?

I can't believe this Sony camera is so easy to use, takes great picture and it costs much less than in the military base. I would recommend to anyone.

For out-doors picture, with good light conditions, the pictures are great and sharp. Amazing video capture.
But I was really disappointed when taking pictures in-doors. In its Intelligent Auto Ajust Mode, the camera usually picks a high iso configuration when there's not a bright light inside a room (and I mean really bright), resulting in a bad quality picture. Looks like you're using a 0,5 Megapixel camera.
Too bad I didn't know much about the ISO settings before buying this camera. High ISO yields bad quality pictures, because the idea is to obtain a brighter picture in low light conditions. I wish I had bought a lower ISO camera.

I had some trouble getting used to this camera but now it takes lovely pictures when I have it at the right setting.

This is a very nice camera for it's class. It takes very good photos, is quick to focus and has low shutter lag. It also has all of the features that one finds on these cameras now, including optical image stabilization and an effective auto-smile detection feature. The battery seems to last well, though I didn't pay attention to how many shots I got over how many days.

I haven't dropped it, but it seems well built. The LCD display is protected (a little anyway) by a thin layer of glass or Plexiglas. I would purchase this again if a similar need came up.

i have been an ardent fan of picture quality of sony cameras and that was the reason i bought this camera. this piece is compact (fits nicely in jeans pocket), looks great, feels comfortable in hands (the large screen makes it up for very small menu, display and delete buttons), has intelligent auto mode but the picture quality is not what i expected ... i have had this camera for about a week now and all the photos i took were taken outside in full daylight ... in no way do i mean that the photos were bad but they were not very good ... so i am a bit disappointed

I love this camera. Finding the right case was tough, though. After trying several ones in Sears, I bought a nice one that fits perfectly and has room for a battery: Caselogic Pocket Video Camcorder Case (TBC-312). This case model comes in two sizes though. The camera fits in both but I liked better the smaller one. If you are looking for a case, I recommend you to visit a camera/electronic store and try some cases by yourself. It's the only way you can be completely sure about this. I spent too much time looking for the right case online and could not find it.

This cam takes amazing pics. I bought this camera to take with me on a trip overseas. I ordered it early enough so that I could get it and learn it before the trip. I took some amazing pics of my dogs, the beach and some family pics and everything was beautiful! Taking it on the trip I knew that Id better have a back up battery since I would be taking alot of pics each day. The battery life was good, and I probably would have been ok with just the 1 battery on a daily basis. If you are taking your normal, everyday pics you going to be happy with this camera. I have had many digital cams over the years and am very experienced with them. Most people would be satisfied with this camera. The reason I only gave a 3 out of 5 is as follows. I went to a concert, and when it started to get dusk the pics started having a hard time focusing. When it was dark it was terrible. Even from the lights of the stage, I hardly got any pics after the sun went down. I thought with the iscn and iAuto mode that the low lighting or stage lights wouldn't be an issue. I took some video and instantly became annoyed with the inability to zoom in and out while the video was recording. Once I started recording I noticed that the battery life was instantly drained. I was thankful that I had brought my other sony batteries with me. I didnt get close to 5 mins of video out of the 3 batteries I had with me. very disappointing. I will probably sell this camera and either wait for a new series from sony or try a different model. I love sony and want to stick with them, and I have a larger sony camera with a high zoom.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W290/T 12.1 MP Digital Camera in Bronze + 4GB MEMORY STICK PRO DUO + Sony Digital Camera Case + Extra Battery + Deluxe Accessory Kit

I bought this camera because of the 720p video. The video quality is really quite good. The picture quality was not as great as I expected. I believe my 3yr old Canon A610 has a better picture quality.
I have returned the camera and purchased the Canon SD7800. Much better pictures, and just as good video.

This is my fourth digital camera and I researched many point and shoot cameras before choosing the W290 and, after one month of use, I think I made the correct decision. I don't know what more you could ask of a point and shoot -- wide angle lens, 5X zoom, stabilization, simple to use, fast, small, etc. Picture quality is great - outdoor/daylight pictures beat many SLR's.

I recently used this camera to take pictures at California's Electric Daisy Carnival in Los Angeles.

Some Pros:
+ Very sharp, high resolution photos when taken under broad day light
+ Very low fringing
+ Excellent wide-angle lens
+ Great menu system
+ Relatively fast start up and shot-to-shot time
+ Full 720p HD video recording produced outstanding video
+ In-camera editing features like red-eye removal, sepia, glitter, etc.
+ Compact, stylish design
+ Huge 3'' inch, high resolution, bright screen

Some Cons:
- Very difficult to get good night photos or long-exposure photos!! The Electric Daisy Carnival really comes alive at night and I think I missed a few great photos because it is difficult to get great shots with this camera at night!
- I occasionally encountered an error message asking me to turn the camera on then back off. Maybe the mode knob got shifted around too easily during the carnival.
- No zoom during HD recording, but I didn't use the zoom that much anyway during video recording.
- Lack of shutter- or aperture-priority modes is *extremely* frustrating, especially if you're accustomed to having more control.
- Textured surface tends to collect dirt and debris and is not easily cleaned.

BOTTOM LINE: If you want a simple point-and-shoot, then this camera more than fits the bill. It's sleek and stylish and takes very good quality pictures in broad daylight. It's also pretty fast, has a wide-angle lens, and is a good compromise between a high-end dSLR and a low-end cheap camera. Camera produced pictures with natural, true-to-life colors. Night time shots, however, require that the user tinker around a bit with the Program Mode, potentially causing the operator to miss a shot. Overall, I'm not *completely* satisfied with this camera; it could be better, but I'd still recommend it to people looking for a general all-purpose point and shot.

DevilDoc

The camera is great! The picture quality is stellar. It is easy to use too! Unlike most other cameras, the on board menu options give you a description of what every option does - taking the guess work out the equation. It has excellent optical zoom that is better than average for its size and it is far better than my previous Canon PowerShot A640. As an added feature, you can shoot movies in HD. This is the best point in shoot that I have ever owned. The only thing it lacks is the ability to zoom while shooting a movie and the ability to rotate the pictures to fit the screen while in playback mode (unlike my old Canon). While this item was a refurb, it looks and operates like it is brand spanking new. A great buy for anyone who is looking for a higher end compact point-and-shoot camera. I would highly recommend it in comparison to any other camera in its class (including any of the Canons). Last, don't just take my word for it - [...]

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W290 12.1 MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Zoom and Super Steady Shot Image Stabilization (Black)
I recently bought the Sony DSC-W290 digital camera with NO REGRETS! I looked for weeks at all the brands and read all the reviews, before deciding on the Sony DSC-W290. Sony cameras rated the best in reliability over a 5 year period in two top consumer magazines! Glad I bought a Sony! The Sony DSC-W290 takes excellant high quality pictures and high-def video. The video sound is also in stereo! My friends Panasonic with similar features as my Sony, records in mono! Believe me there's a big difference in sound quality! The Sony sounds more realistic and picks up the sounds better and clearer than the Panasonic! Something to consider since the Sony DSC-W290 takes such great quality high-def video. I feel high-def video has to have stereo sound, why wound any manufactuer make a camera with high-def video without it? Much to my surprise Sony is way ahead of their competitors on this, most other brands record in mono, just like the Panasonic. The Sony DSC-W290 is very well built and solid! Very easy to use, just like all Sony digital cameras! They improved their menu options on this model making it even easier to use over previous ones. The Sony DSC-W290 has a metal front and back case, most others are all plastic, something else to consider! Plus the Sony DSC-W290 just down right looks better and more high tech than all their competitors! It's very compact with tons of features and capabilities! The photo and video quality is the best I've seen in a point and shoot digital camera in this price range. My prints turn out so well they look like a professional took them! I love the Carl Zeiss lenses Sony uses! They are German and used by professional labs worldwide! Also, Carl Zeiss lenses are used by NASA on the Space Shuttle! Something else to consider when deciding which camera to buy. The double anti-blur and optical image stabilization features work great! I purposely tried to make the Sony screw up and couldn't, I'm amazed, perfect sharp, clear photos every time! The Sony DSC-W290 is so automatic, put it in Intelligent Auto mode, and the camera does the rest. There's also manual settings available, but why bother. Buy the Sony DSC-W290 and you won't be disappointed! You'll love it! They are selling so well that many stores and online retailers are out-of-stock! So don't wait around, or you may have to wait till they get re-stocked! The Sony DSC-W290 is very hard to beat!!!

Many have discussed all the cool features of this camera so I will just mention what I found important here. I really like the look and feel of this camera, and it is small and fits neatly in a pocket. But, what is it for? For me, to take clear, crisp pictures with great color and contrast. I am sorry to say that the pictures it takes are not clear and crisp. It's a shame, the designers did everything else right, but it seems they saved a buck on the quality of the image sensor and spoiled an otherwise great product.
After owning it a week, I bought a Panasonic DMC-TZ5 which is larger and does not have quite as cool looking a case, but it does produce much clearer pictures in a side-by-side comparison. And, it has it's own set of cool features, but I'm not here to talk about them, but to warn about the less-than-clear images produced by the SONY. Sorry SONY, but that's the way it is.

I bought this camera as an upgrade to my sony W50. It's got a nice wide angle zoom, HD movies (mp4s that I couldn't edit in windows movie maker), and all the latest automation from sony (smile shutter etc.)

I was a little disappointed. The photos were better, but not a lot better, than my old camera. I have some photography experience, and I knew there weren't manual controls, but I still found it hard to know what the automatic settings were doing. I like to see what aperature and iso are going to be used, and have some control. But it wasn't user friendly.

I like the small size, but in the end I returned it and bought a Panasonic TZ5 with a 10X zoom + all the other features of the sony. I think the pictures are better, and I've been happy with my decision.

If you always use auto mode, and you want the small size, this would be a decent choice.

--and it turns out I was right.
This is one of the worst cameras I have ever used. Yeah sure--12.1 megapixels sounds great, right? well, they are as long as you can get a clear shot using this camera. 90% of my shots are either fuzzy or blurry no matter what I do. I have to stand perfectly still and have my subject hold their breath to get a decent shot. Not one is crystal clear out of 200 shots. This is a pathetic piece of unprogressive technology. Oh---AND good luck trying to take 20 shots without using up one bar of the battery. IT RUNS OUT QUICK! I would use it for 15 minutes and then have to take a break to find an outlet to charge it up so I wouldn't miss a great shot. But you know what? When those great shots come along--this camera would catch it in all of it's BLURRY glory. The buttons are annoyingly tiny and uncomfortable to use. this thing is horrible. So Sad!

No reason places should be selling this above $350. I see one retailer on amazon selling it for $700. Don't get suckered.

Ok, I have tried out couple Canon PowerShot SD790IS 10MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and Canon PowerShot SD1200IS 10 MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom, which I gave these 2 cameras 3 stars, then I went on and tried Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W230 12 MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom and Super Steady Shot Image Stabilization, and I love this camera, pictures from this camera are very vivid and beautiful. I would give this camera 4 stars. So I decide to get Cyber-shot DSC-W290 12.1 MP Digital Camera, because it's more expensive, and I called Dell.com, they told me, it's made in Japan, which I think Japan made product is better, so I got this camera from Dell, when it came, open the box, it made in China:(

Now, I can compare 2 Sony cameras W230 and W290.
1- W230 pictures' colors is much much better than W290, dont know why!
2- W230 starts up much faster than W290.
3- W230 take better pictures not as blur like W290, and I don't know why.
4- W230 is cheaper than W290 about 40 dollars

W230 seem to be a much faster camera than W290 and cheaper. Another thing about purchasing camera, I think you should go to the store and check out the cameras yourself, check, feel, compare all the cameras that you like and pick out the best one that you like, remember each person has different taste of thing:)

So I returned W290 to Dell and kept W230.

I purchased this camera to replace my Canon A95 which I love but it's only 5 MP and is getting old. The current Canon models were considerably more expensive so I decided to try the W290 instead. After a few days and well over 100 pictures I have to say I'm really disappointed. The pictures are very grainy in low light or even medium light. Almost every pic looks "soft" and even indoor pictures were very grainy or had auto-focused on background objects. My previous camera did require settings to be changed manually but if the automatic features goof up the shot, what's the point of the technology? I tried manual settings with the Sony also and the end result was no different. Looks like I'll be returning this one and will likely ante up for another Canon after all.