Although internally similar to Sony's slim, hot-selling T1, the M1 is chunkier, and has to be flipped into an L shape for shooting (in part so you don't accidentally record video that's all sideways). It shoots 5-megapixel still images and video that's ready for TV viewing — 480 x 640 resolution at 30 frames per second. It records stereo sound through two tiny microphones behind its spacious 2.5-in. LCD screen.

The controls are designed to incorporate both snapshot and video recording in one sweep of the thumb, but because of that, you may need to take some time to reorient yourself. The zoom is in the dead center, and toggling between "Rec" and "Play" means hitting a tiny square button. This redesign has advantages, however. First, you can shoot photos or video without switching modes, so you don't have to decide until the last second which would work best. Also, there are two sets of shooting buttons, so if you're framing your shot with two hands, you can commence the shooting with either one.

The M1's key innovation is a "hybrid" video and still-image function. Flick a switch below the Photo button, and instead of standard stills, you capture five seconds of video, followed by a freeze-frame photo, followed by another three seconds of video, complete with sound. It's a little "making of" documentary of the still picture itself, which is saved alongside the video in a standalone file.

With hybrids, the video quality is only one quarter of the camera's maximum resolution, but the still shot you get is a full 5-megapixels. This ensures the mini-videos are always around 700KB, which is ready for most people's e-mail inboxes. With the standard video, you can easily run up 10 or 20 MB, and even cram a full hour onto a 1GB Memory Stick (sold separately, of course). All your friends and family need to watch them is the latest version of QuickTime or Real Player.

Sony stresses that this is not a true camcorder, and in fact, what you can do with the footage itself is fairly limited — you can't really edit it or burn it to DVD just yet. The way I see it, the M1 was designed to emphasize the fact that most of Sony's still cameras have exceptional video recording capability. Fortunately, if you're a photo nut, there's no penalty for choosing the M1, and if you want to capture moments simultaneously on film and video — moments like the last five seconds of the New Year's Eve countdown followed by the requisite smooch — there's really no better way.