Canon’s cute Ixus 120 IS has a 4x zoom lens, equivalent to 28-112mm on an old film camera, with 12-megapixel images from a body only 2cm in depth.

It’s the manufacturer’s slimmest wide-angle camera to date and has no optical viewfinder.

The combination of the 28mm wide angle, suitable for panoramic views or group portraits, and the credit card-sized dimensions make it an ideal companion for travellers.

Build quality is excellent thanks to a largely metal construction. This explains the fairly high list price, even if the finish does little to hide scrapes and scratches.

Photographs can be composed and reviewed on the 2.7in rear screen that, on our review sample at least, displayed an image slightly warm in appearance.

It powered up in just under two seconds and features Canon’s Smart Auto feature, in which the camera recognises common subjects and types of scenes and alters its settings accordingly.

With this mode selected, all we had to do was point and shoot. The highest resolution pictures were saved to the memory card in less than three seconds.

Even though pictures from the IXUS 120 IS were not the sharpest we have seen, they were detailed and the colour was natural. And noise didn’t become a problem until we used the highest light sensitivity settings (in low light conditions).

Like its rivals the Ixus 120 IS features three fashionable must-have features: face detection, high-definition video at the 720p resolution (a HDMI port allows the camera to be hooked up to a flat-panel TV) and blink detection, which warns the user when a subject has their eyes closed.

There’s also automatic red-eye removal.

A brief description of each icon popped up while we scrolled through menus, which meant we didn’t have to wade through the manual supplied on CD. More experienced users can choose to disable the help.

All these features eat up power, though. Canon promises 220 shots from a freshly charged battery, so if you are going on a trip take the charger too.

If cool design and portability top your wish list for a new digital camera, this latest IXUS fits the bill.