Stylish touchscreen compacts

Touchscreen cameras were probably made popular by Sony when it unveiled the Cyber-shot DSC-T200. Since then, other manufacturers have joined in the party and delivered similar offerings. Panasonic took the idea further with the Lumix DMC-FX520, which allows photographers to perform selective focusing by tapping anywhere on the screen. Playback is also made more intuitive for some shooters which let you move a magnified image around the larger display like on an iPod Touch. But as with most touch-enabled devices, the displays tend to be fingerprint magnets, so keep a micro-fiber cloth handy to wipe away unsightly stains.

Some of these shooters have yet to be launched in the market and will probably be on the shelves from September onwards. Do check with your local retailers for their availability.

Click here for a feature comparison table.

	1.	Nikon Coolpix S60   The S60's lush 3.5-inch touchscreen is probably the largest to adorn any Nikon camera. But what's special about this shooter is that the only physical buttons to be found are the power and shutter. Other operations like zooming and menu navigation are done on the LCD. It packs a handy 5x optical zoom that is coupled with Vibration Reduction image stabilization system to prevent blur caused by hand shakes. Oh, and if you must know, this point-and-shoot has a resolution of 10 megapixels. See full specs | Rate this
	2.	Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T700   At just 16.4mm, the 10-megapixel T700 has to be one of the slimmest touchscreen point-and-shoots. Although it has yet to be launched in the market, we think it'll cause a furor when it hits the stores in September. It appears that Sony has engineered the T700 to be a hybrid of the T2 and the T300. It has 4GB of onboard memory, 4x optically stabilized lens and a large 3.5-inch display. But what's most intriguing is that its literature states the LCD can show 921,000 colors, which is about four times more than what a typical screen can exhibit. So, how true-to-life are the colors? We'll find out later in our review. See full specs | Rate this
	3.	Samsung NV100HD   As if packing a 3-inch touchscreen wasn't enough, Samsung had to squeeze in a 14.6-megapixel sensor into the NV100HD. The 3.6x optical zoom lens is widest at 28mm, which we think should be the bare minimal for any point-and-shoot these days. The shooter will ship with Smart Touch 2.0, which is a new version of the navigation system designed to work with this shooter. The "HD" suffix at the end of the name indicates that this camera can capture 720p-quality video, which is one of its major selling points. See full specs | Rate this
	4.	Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T77   Did someone say thin? Well, that's what the T77 is at 15mm. It is a direct successor to the T70, and features a resolution upgrade from 8.1 megapixels to 10 megapixels. It has a 4x optical zoom supported by an optical image stabilizer system, but lacks a wide-angle lens. Also, unlike the T700, the T77 has only a 3-inch display. While the specifications may seem dull, we are guessing this shooter will come with a slightly more affordable price tag. See full specs | Rate this
	5.	Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX520   CNET Asia rating: 8 out of 10 The good: Stylish design; intuitive 3-inch touchscreen; manual exposure control; 25mm ultra-wide-angle lens; improved image quality. The bad: Slow startup time; Face Detection didn't recognize faces with spectacles; oddly shaped stylus. The bottom line: Besides the startup time and stylus, it is hard to find fault with the FX520. Image quality has also improved and we really like the features that are incorporated with the touchscreen. Review | See full specs | Rate this