It's nice and compact, a 2-megapixel camera with a 1.4-in. color screen on the back that is surrounded by all of the instructions you're ever going to need. In addition to reviewing and deleting shots, you can set a 10-second timer. The flash is automatic; as convenient as that can be, I sometimes like to turn off the flash and shoot in low natural light — this camera can't or won't do that.  

Despite having the innards of a standard digital, there's no way for you to pull the photos out of the camera yourself. After purchasing the camera, which is actually more like renting, you return it to CVS for processing, starting at $10. You get nice prints, offering better quality than many of the disposable film cameras I've seen. You also get a disc with the original picture files and a very simple, non-techie program for sending pictures to family and friends. But you don't get the camera back; it's repackaged and put back out there, explaining why a camera that probably cost $50 to $100 to build can be a $20 "disposable."  

The real issue here, as I see it, is the value proposition. If you're a digital-camera owner, this is not for you. But if you (or your mom) spend lots of money on disposables, this should be the topic of at least one dinner-table discussion. You pay $20 up front, $5 to $10 more than a typical disposable film camera. In return, you process only your 25 best pictures, having weeded out all of the "I blinked" shots and the all-dark "Went off in my bag" shots.  

My biggest wish is not that this disposable's price comes down. In fact, if you like the idea of a delete button but don't need to review shots, you can buy a $10 version of the same camera without the LCD screen. No, my wish is that the camera itself gave you more than 25 shots. I know that it wouldn't be hard — or terribly costly — to up the internal memory to hold, say, 50 shots. By delivering not just better shots but more of them, the CVS Digital would in one fell swoop make film disposables obsolete.