Drooling for a compact?

This is arguably a very stylish compact camera. The IXUS 850IS from Canon may be half a year old already; but is true wide angle lens (28mm equivalent), coupled with high ISO and Image Stabilizer capabilities make it a great party camera. It's currently retailing for around RM1400 with 1GB SD card, so it's still quite expensive for a point-and-shoot. This is not surprising, given the 850IS is actually a lifestyle product that happens to make good pictures. Design and branding are paramount, while image quality and usability are 2nd priority.

There is a replacement already announced (IXUS 950IS) that has higher resolution, but drops the wide angle lens (which is really a shame). Wide angle is so much more useful than telephoto, unless of course you plan to snoop around and be a pseudo peeping tom/private investigator.