"At ISO 1600 you can clearly see the noise on this toy dinosaur"

Toy dinosaur? You heathen! That's the one and only Grimlock!

Maybe if that shot of the dinosaur was in focus it would help.

tsince it says it is left in the shade by its competitors, it might be useful to name and a few alternativesand say in what way they beat this canon?

I can see noise on my full frame DSLR at ISO1600, your point is?

Ok the noise is much less and less noticeable, but you can't expect to amplify a weak signal (ie. weak light at a tiny analog sensor) without boosting the noise levels.

It's a compact camera, they have more noise than DSLR cameras which have much bigger sensors.

"shutter speed range from 1/60-1/600 second"

That's really restricted... 1/60, is that the slowest? For shame, Canon...

Only problem with the new design, and indeed the last new design, of the IXUS pocket cameras is that they've been getting smaller and smoother and harder to keep a grip on. My IXUS300 was ok, the IXUS700 is kinda slippery and easy to drop.

The new one looks almost like a bar of soap.

According to Canon's specs:

1/60 - 1/1600 sec (factory default)

15 - 1/1600 sec (total range - varies by shooting mode)

Though that's about as clear as mud.

I'm guessing that auto modes only go as slow as 1/60 sec, which is uncoincidentally probably the flash sync speed, but you can manually go slower if the need arises.