Canon Digital IXUS 90 IS

Some people say you can't put a price on style. The folks at Canon might agree, but they've been giving it their best shot with the IXUS compact range for the better part of a decade. I'm Richard Trenholm of CNEt.co.uk, and this is the latest addition to the IXUS line-up: the Canon IXUS 90 IS. As you can see straight away, this 10 megapixel compact is every bit as stylish as you'd expect. It's sturdy and quite heavy, and it isn't the slimmest camera we've ever seen, but it has a lovely retro boxy shape, but with lots of sharp angles to give it a contemporary feel. It might be all clean lines and minimalist chic at the front, but the back is a different story. The first thing you notice is this giant 3 inch screen. Then when you start to use the camera, you'll encounter these buttons, that are actually part of the frame and flex when you press them. It's a bit weird at first, but not unpleasant. You can also use this scroll wheel to cycle through menus and modes, which is good, but it's not loose and spinny as it needs to be, and the dots aren't really raised enough to grip. So how about features? Sadly, the 90 is another IXUS trophy wife bimbo -- great-looking and expensive, but without much going on underneath. There's face detection, video, and not much else. That said, it does have one big redeeming feature: optical image stabilization, to keep shaky hands from blurring images. Pictures are as capable as you'd expect from Canon, with crisp focus and accurate colour. It's not fast, but the burst mode will keep ticking with no sign of stopping. Bear in mind though that it doesn't have an internal memory, which would be fine if Canon had bundled something a little less laughable than a 32MB SD card, so you will have to invest in plenty of SD or SDHC cards. I'm Richard Trenholm of CNET.co.uk, and this is the Canon IXUS 90 IS.