Why buy the Canon Powershot A1200 - A Review (of sorts) - Point and Shoot Project

So in the past I've blogged about what I would look for in a point and shoot camera. While all of those points still held the rules of the point and shoot project meant that most of the checklist became irrelevant. At the price point we were working at. However there were some unexpected bonus features that really helped to push things over the line. They will be covered first:

Bonus features:
Optical Viewfinder
Discreet Mode
Use of AA batteries
Use of SD cards

1) Size
This one actually held together. The Canon A1200 is pocket friendly and that works for me. That being said this is true of most cameras at this price point.
2)Minimal Shutter delay
At this price point the shutter delay will always be left wanting. In this case the delay is about 1/2 a second which is in line with everything else in its class
3)Good lens, colours, and image quality
I checked this out online pre-purchase. I did this by checking out other reviews and looking at sample images. At this price point you should really juts look at images and ask yourself 'does that look good?' The answer for me was yes, it looks fine. In fact the wee powershot seemed to do quite well all the way up to iso800 - that's better than what I was expecting from a wee point and shoot.
4)Around 10 megapixels
The canon powershot a1200 comes in at 12.1 megapixels. This is plenty.
5) Zoom
4x Optical zoom isn't much but it's better than nothing and, most importantly, it's way better than digital zoom
6) Flash
It has one. That's all that matters at this price point
7)High Iso Performance
Surprisingly good
8)Manual control
This is limited to scene mode selections but it's better than nothing and that's actually ok... just as long as you understand what those scene mode selections are doing