In the year since its release, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 has stood alone in the compact market as the only model with a 1-inch image sensor. The RX100 II ($749.99 direct) joins it; it's priced $100 higher, but offers some upgrades.

Excellent high ISO performance; 1-inch image sensor; Wide aperture lens; Customizable controls; Large, tilting LCD; Minimal shutter lag; Raw image capture; Wi-Fi; Hot shoe with EVF support

Very expensive; Limited zoom range; In-camera battery charging only; Could be sharper at the edges of the frame at 28mm

There's no denying the advantage of a DSLR, but there's also a distinct benefit to having a camera that can fit in a pocket. Enter the Sony DSC-RX100, a camera that attempts to bridge the gap between compact and SLR.

Customizable front control ring; Large image sensor; Manual; settings and controls; 10 fps speed priority burst mode; Superior; low light performance

No optical viewfinder; Average 3x optical zoom; More expensive then some competitors

The Sony Cyber-shot RX100 II is a pocket-sized camera with a large 20 Megapixel sensor and a 3.6x Carl Zeiss zoom with a bright focal ratio. Announced in June 2013, it's an upgraded version of the original RX100 launched one year previously.

Big sensor; pocketable compact form; Articulated LCD screen; Built in Wifi with NFC; Excellent low light & high ISO performance; Focus peaking; Hotshoe supports external flash; EVF and mic; Optional remote cable

Weak stabilisation; Slow f4.9 maximum aperture at 100mm; Digital zoom can't be disabled for movies; Screen isn't touch-sensitive; No miniature effect mode for movies

Sony hopes to challenge the big boys with its little compact. WE have heard a lot of good things about Sony's latest compact camera, the DSC-RX100. The camera has powerful features and it'll be interesting to see how it fares in a world dominated by DSLRs and mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras...

Great photo quality; compact size; smartly designed controls for manual shooting

Pricey; HD video recording not great

It's hard to review the RX100 II without calling out its predecessor/sibling model, and seeing as they're being sold simultaneously (at least for now) it may even be appropriate to offer some direct comparisons.

Hand-held Twilight uses the same trick as High Dynamic Range, but to get a steady, decently lit shot at night without a tripod. And Picture Effects lets you add 13 different effects to your photo. Illustration turns it into a line drawing; miniature makes it look like a scale model, etc.

Best photo and video quality of any pocket camera; Quick-shooting; Full manual control; Fits easily into a jacket or pants pocket

Smooth finish is hard to grip; some say; Very few buttons to handle lots of tasks; Flimsy flash stalk and USB/card doors

Sony has once again raised the bar for advanced compact cameras with the RX100 II. Building on the wildly popular RX100, the RX100 II adds a tilting rear LCD screen, flash/accessory hot shoe, built-in Wi-Fi, and a backside-illuminated (BSI) sensor for improved low-light and high-ISO performance.

New, 20.2MP, 1-inch type, backside illuminated (BSI) image sensor produces superb image quality, with particular improvements in low light and high ISO; 3-inch tilting rear LCD screen handy for composing shots from difficult angles; Fast all-around performer with quick autofocus and virtually no...

Bigger and heavier than previous model; More expensive than previous model; Reduced burst performance when shooting RAW files; Somewhat confusing menu structure and control layout; Wi-Fi features can be difficult to set up, Slightly larger than original model, pushes limit of being a "pocket"...

Sony Cyber-shot RX100 II Review - The Sony RX100 II updates the award-winning RX100 with the addition of Wi-Fi, hotshoe and a vari-angle screen. Can it improve on an already excellent model?

Large Sensor; Tilt Screen; Build Quality; Supports hot shoe accessories

No touchscreen; Short zoom range; Expensive

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 II compact camera offers a few worthwhile upgrades when compared with the original RX100, but comes in at a higher asking price.

When you first hear the $649 price tag for the Sony Cyber-shot RX100, $649 might seem over the top for a compact digicam.

Pretty much the best compact digicam ever (at least under $1k); Carl Zeiss optics; handsome retro-tastic design and great build-quality; excellent photo and video chops

Pricey; battery life could be better; we had an "incident" where the humid weather created condensation in the lens and temporarily resulted in blurry photos; no interchangeable lens system