God Is In the Details

Here are two approaches to packaging a digital camera. The first is the original Sony Cybershot,  which was and still pretty much is the state of the art if you read the comparison charts: 3x optical zoom, 5 megapixel files, yaddy yaddy. (Sony has a new Cybershot that is slicker looking and may be packaged differently, but I didn't want another because of the experience I had with the first.) The second is the new Canon Powershot SD450, which I've just bought to replace the Cybershot. In case you can't figure out what the difference is, Sony made me carry around a very long power cord and a cradle with a USB cable. I'm sure they thought it was cute that you could either plug the power cord directly into the camera to recharge it or you could plug it into the cradle to both recharge and move the pictures off the camera.  Canon on the other hand provides a handy little device that you use to recharge the battery and assumes you'll use a card adapter to copy pictures off the SD card. (Yes, you can use a USB cable to connect the camera, but why bring yet another cable with you when you travel!)