So we have had this little camera for just over three weeks now, so what do I think?
Well first up I got 'stung' with the SDHC thing, I got two 4GB cards and found none of my readers could read from them, means I have to download using the USB cable on the camera until i get a new reader (still haven't found a good internal one).
It is not short of these features 
The huge zoom is great and the IS works a treat, nice having the flip screen again (as per my old G3), the screen isn't as nice as some of those new larger ones but does the trick.
The movie mode works really well, we use it more than taking photos, we found the 640x480 sufficient, putting the camera into HiDef 720P wide forces the photos into the same aspect ratio and downsizes them considerablly 
Also there does not really seem to be that much more detail in them. Zooming whilst shooting is very cool, I have not heard the lens in playback yet. On noise the mic is very sensitive, it often picks up my breathing when I am in a quiet place. The LP movie modes quality is noticeable degraded from normal.
Stills are great in good light, IS helps at the long end of the zoom, auto WB doesn't always get it right, I tend to set it manually and it gives good results. Lower the light levels though and the trouble begins. Anything above ISO400 starts to get really noisy, in fact low light movies have the same issue. ISO1600 is almost unusable, far more noise than anything else I have ever used. I am yet to profile the camera in NeatImage to see what it can do.
Handling is interesting, the build quality is great it feels solid, not cheap. It has a great 'clunk' sound when the lens retracts 
Not sure about the orientation. It is really hard to move fingers around to start a movie, zoom and stop and holding steady at the same time, I quite often end up using two hands, not sure how Canon can fix this but I hope they come up with something for the TX2. It really needs that IS. Another handling annonyance I noticed is I stuck it on a tripos and tried to connect the video out last week, no go, the video out is right next to the tripod socket, so you can't do both at the same time, also I could not find away of powering it off mains, I doubt a battery adaptor will be of much use as you can't change the battery when it is on a tripod either.
Something I miss and are used to from my EOS and G3 are what I call shooting priority, no mater what the camera is doing, touch the shutter and it is ready to shoot a photo, not so on the TX1, you need to put it back into picture taking mode if you are in playback using the dial, helps having a movie mode and still shutter button though, no need to change mode, also enable stills when in movie mode, however from my handling comments from above the camera usually 'jerks' when you take a picture, this and the loss of frame and 'shutter' sound in the movie mode indicates a photo had just been taken.
The red eye generator, um sorry flash is quite low powered and only good for close subjects, it almost guarantees red eye though, I don't like the red eye reduction features of cameras as they slow them down. Fortunately the inbuilt post shot red eye reduction is really good, although a little time consuming (you have to select in in playback mode for each image).
Battery life is disappointing, if you go out on day trips, then a spare battery or two is a must! I ordered some off Sterlingtek, they have larger 900mAh (standard 760mAh) batteries that seem to work well, I carry two spares now.
Summary:
Positives
- Excellent build quality, more solid that my old G3
- Great movie mode quality in good light
- Great picture quality in good light
- Excellent 10x zoom with IS
- Lots of features
Not so Goods
- Handling, can be a real pain
- Low light performance (including the red eye generator)
- Battery life
So am I glad I bought it, yes I am, I think it is a great little camera, not perfect though. It is still in my opinion great value for the price given the features and quality, its main let down for me is handling, I can work with the rest.
My wife loves the camera and it performs its designated purpose well which is a small camera we can just grab of leave in the car for outings without having to lug several KGs of SLR, also we really wanted the movie mode for the wee ones, and it does a better job than many dedicated video cameras. However for our upcoming Pacific Island holiday, I am still going to be lugging the SLR 
