The world seems to have gone touch-screen mad. If you want to turn heads in the mobile phone market then it's essential that you add a touch-screen as one of the main features. As consumers start to take for granted the fact they can dab their fingers on a screen to get things moving, rather than trudge through a confusing raft of menus, it makes sense that the technology spreads to other gadget categories.

The 12-megapixel touch-screen EasyShare V1273 compact digital camera may not be the first touch-LCD camera - by a long shot: that acclaim went to Toshiba over six years ago - but like pretty much all Kodak compact digital cameras it certainly ranks high on the simplicity chart.

If you have a camera with touch-screen you want to be able to carry out tasks such as changing scene modes or flicking through the previews of your shots within a matter of two or three dabs. Kodak manages to tick all these requirements with the V1273 and adds a few more features into the bargain.

Available in dark grey and black, the V1273 is light to hold and is covered in a durable, textured plastic casing. The LCD screen measures a generous three inches diagonally with a 230k pixel resolution. Aside from the shutter button and zoom control there are only three menu buttons to the right of the LCD monitor; the playback, sub-menu and information button. Other than that, all the camera features and settings are set by accessing menus using the touch-screen.

When you first turn on the camera you're presented with an icon representing your scene mode up in the top left-hand corner of the monitor. On pressing this icon a few different options appear, allowing you to adjust your flash settings, frame capture and expand the Scene menu. The screen is quick and responsive and the icons are spaced out well enough to avoid accidentally choosing the adjacent setting.

For good results automatically the V1273 can be set to SMART mode. This is far more than just your average 'auto' as it detects how far the subject you're photographing is from the lens, switching between Macro and Landscape mode to get the best focussing.

Pressing the top left scene mode icon opens up all your different scene options. It's quick to access and select scene modes and there are 22 different scenarios to choose from, including the more original Panning Shot, Candlelight and a Manor/Museum scene for those occasions when you're not allowed to shoot flash and don't want to disturb people with annoying menu beeps.

Setting up your shot and achieving good focus results is pretty easy thanks to an accurate face detection feature. This is even intelligent enough to follow your subject if you half-press your shutter button and reframe your shot. The LCD monitor is a little noisy in low light situations but with the set-up menu it's great to see that you can adjust the LCD brightness to conserve battery power and activate an LCD dimmer feature.

Picture quality from the stills doesn't disappoint and the level of detail is impressive and sharp thanks to the image stabilisation. This compact camera doesn't have the longest optical zoom on the market, though. Measuring in at 3x, with a 5x digital zoom, it's not the best option for those who often find themselves shooting long-distance.

Next to the Scene mode option you can shift the performance away from a digital stills camera to a movie camera. Capable of capturing in both Quicktime and MPEG 4 formats, the video feature has the capacity to shoot high-def video of 1,280 x 720 pixels at 30fps.

It picks up sound well; however (and this is the biggest annoyance of the V1273), when it comes to activating the zoom during video capture the in-built microphone picks up the whirr of the motor quite obviously. To avoid this it's probably wise to find the most appropriate zoom point and stick to it.

There are more treats in store when it comes to previewing shots on the V1273. As well as being able to review shots with a slideshow you can also quickly flick through your photos by scrolling (Apple iPhone users may be used to a similar method of previewing) or review smaller thumbnails.

Photographers who love to tag their shots, either for the benefit of a photo-sharing site like Flickr or simply for their own sake, should be happy to find tagging functions in the image previewing. It's easy to allocate tags to your own shots by finding the appropriate title through a list and tapping it to select it. Alternatively, it's simple enough to add your own custom tags by selecting ‘Add Tag' and then typing in your own title using the QWERTY keyboard interface.

There are several little accessories that come with the Kodak EasyShare V1273, including a dock adapter (so you can fix your camera onto the Kodak EasyShare station if you have one, and print out your images direct from the camera) and a small camera case. This latter is a vital extra that will help keep the touch-screen in good nick, so it's good to see this in the box as it's often an oversight from camera manufacturers.

The Kodak EasyShare V1723 is a stylish and durable compact camera with a sensitive and accurate touch-screen. Kodak consistently manages to provide cameras with easily navigated menus and it's a real bonus when this is combined with the 3-inch touch-screen. Picture quality is sharp and colourful and there are excellent playback and tagging features that will appeal to all photo file-sharers, although the short 3x optical zoom may not be enough for some.