The BenQ DC T700 is a slender compact that still manages to cram an enormous screen into a pocketable package. It's trim and stylish, and reasonably priced.

We investigate whether it's different enough from the Pentax T30, with which the DC T700 shares most of its innards, or from any of the other gluts of 7-megapixel compact cameras on the market.

Design of the BenQ DC T700 Digital Camera

BenQ claimed at launch that the DC T700 was "the world's slimmest 3-inch touchscreen camera", and it certainly is svelte. It measures 15mm thick, and is only slightly wider at the lens ring. It's so slim that we found ourselves reaching into our pocket and pulling it out instead of our mobile phone.

At the back, there's a pleasingly large 76mm (3-inch) touchscreen. With most of the controls accessed through the touchscreen, the number of actual buttons is kept to a minimum.

There is a menu button and shooting/playback toggle, with a vertical 3x zoom rocker. Although we prefer the up/down movement of the zoom control to typical side-to-side rockers, the motion is hamstrung by a choppy, stepped mechanism. When reaching maximum zoom, continuing to hold down the telephoto-side of the rocker will start the camera zooming out again.

The DC T700 is available in black, red, white or silver flavors. Our silver version was more of a matte grey with silver accents, including a sleek metallic fin running around the side of the camera.

The frame feels satisfyingly sturdy. We're not keen on uncovered USB ports and the touchscreen will pick up fingerprints, but these are only minor gripes.

Features of the BenQ DC T700 Digital Camera

The touchscreen icons are large, clear and responsive. It isn't perfect, though: When snapping, tapping anywhere on the screen brings up the same shooting menu.

We'd prefer it if tapping on the indicator for a specific function, such as the flash icon, took you straight to the menu for that function, cutting out a level of navigation. You can get around this to a certain extent by programming customizable onscreen hotkeys. The menu system also lacks an onscreen "back" option, although hitting the menu button generally takes you back a level.

The slim theme extends to the slender 12MB internal memory, while features are a bit thin on the ground. BenQ's Super Shake-Free system is another one of those automatic high-ISO systems with which manufacturers insist on saddling compacts with.

We liked the accessories: A touchscreen stylus that clips to the camera so you won't lose it, a cute little iPod-shaped charger and a pouch with a dinky memory card pocket.

Performance of the BenQ DC T700 Digital Camera

At 4 seconds including a pointless BenQ logo screen, the DC T700 takes an age to start up. It then takes up to 5 seconds between shots in single shot mode. Continuous mode isn't much faster at around 0.5 frames per second.

Image quality is good, though. Detail is sharp, and colors are vividly produced. The quality of the lens shone through with pictures that lack distortion except right at the very corners of the frame.

Autofocus is only available in a wide form, rather than a center-weighted spot. This makes locking focus rather arbitrary, as the reticule will lock on anything within its width. This is especially annoying when trying to lock on to a specific subject, such as in macro or portrait mode. Manual focus is controlled by a touchscreen slider, but it is slow and jerky.

Low light is the bane of this budget compact. Autofocus struggles to lock, and there's no autofocus-assist lamp to help out. Meanwhile, noise adversely affects images at all but the lowest ISO 80 setting.

The flipside of the DC-T700's diminutive size is a small battery, which does lead to battery issues. A full charge was enough for the 400 or so shots involved in our lab testing, but we couldn't shoot much more with the flash before the battery went flat.

Conclusion

The Pentax-made lens means that picture quality from the DC T700 isn't bad at all, at least until the light starts to go. We've come to expect small-sized cameras like this to struggle in the dark, but not to the point that it's so slow or that it has such poor battery life.

Nonetheless, the DC-T700 is stylishly made and the touchscreen is both fun and user-friendly.