Strengths: Great photo quality, Nice review screen, 5x optical zoom, High quality video, Easy to use, Excellent battery life, Powerful flash

Weaknesses: No manual exposure controls, No zooming while taking video, Extra batteries expensive, Controls on back crammed

Summary: Aside from the weakness mentioned above, overall this is a great camera. While many camera's are all plastic, I like the sturdy feel and the brushed metal look on this camera. It takes excellent photos. Quick start up and photo taking. The face recognition is nice. The smile capture mode is neat, but more of a gimick than anything else. Sony also offers some nice optional accessories - like a dock for viewing on HDTV and a underwater housing unit. If you are looking for a camera that takes great photos with a great zoom in a compact body and other nice features, this is probably one of the best deals for the money. If you don't need to make large prints save $50 and buy the W150 instead of the W170.

Strengths: IMAGE STABILITY, QUICK RESPONSE TIME, LARGE IMAGE DISPLAY

Weaknesses: SMALL TINY BUTTONS

Summary: I WAS LOOKING FOR A COMPACT CAMERA THAT WOULD FOCUS FAST AND BE ABLE TO TAKE QUALITY PICTURES FOR ACTION SHOTS AND LOW LIGHT SITUATIONS. I DIDN'T WANT TO HAVE TO USE ANY MANUAL SETTINGS IF POSSIBLE AS I WANTED A SIMPLE POINT AND SHOOT CAMERA. I DID READ THE MANUAL PRETTY EXTENSIVELY ON-LINE BEFORE THE CAMERA ARRIVED, BUT WAS ABLE TO TAKE IT RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX AND BEGIN USING IT IMMEDIATELY VERY EFFECTIVELY. ONLY DOWNSIDE IS THE TINY BUTTONS, BUT THE VIEWING AREA MAKES UP FOR IT