Likewise, the WX10's combination directional pad and scrollwheel, which you use to navigate menus and dial in manual settings, is somewhat small and tricky to operate. Four more buttons--a dedicated movie record button, a playback button, a menu button, and a delete button--reside on the back of the camera. The power button, shutter button, and zoom controls all sit on the top of the camera, and an HDMI-out port (covered by a plasticky door) is on the side.

Overall the camera's back-mounted controls feel a little finicky and cheap, even though the overall camera body construction is more solid. It has no handgrip, but you will find a slightly raised lip along the edge of the camera.

The eight options on the mode dial consist of Intelligent Auto mode, a Superior Auto mode that makes digital antiblur adjustments, program mode, a very limited manual mode that lets you adjust the shutter speed and aperture settings (but only two f-stops per focal length), Sweep Panorama mode, the scene-mode menu, movie mode, and a 3D menu that lets you select from three different 3D-shooting modes (more on that in the "Shooting Modes" section below).

The Cyber-shot DSC-WX10's battery charges inside the camera, which is a bit odd. What's more, charging and offloading images from the camera to a computer is handled via a proprietary-to-USB connector included with the camera. The WX10 accepts both SD/SDHC/SDXC and Memory Stick cards, and it's also compatible with TransferJet devices for wireless transfer of images and video clips.