Canon's late to the party for LCD-based controls, but is clearly making up for lost time; it has packed the entire bezel with controls, including a five-way switch with concentric scroll wheel.
The Quick Start, Display, and PictBridge buttons get prominent placement on the body--perhaps Canon simply couldn't fit them on the LCD bezel. In one amazingly annoying design decision, Canon decided not to tether the cover for the accessory shoe. You might as well consider it lost right now.
That Start/Stop control looks like a switch, but is a button--and it heralds the disappearance of the familiar red dot. The big hole beneath it is the AC adapter input jack, which Canon leaves uncovered. Perhaps that's the compromise necessary to achieve a list price of $1,299 instead of $1,300?
Like a growing number of manufacturers, Canon puts the USB port on the camcorder body underneath the LCD. Although there's nothing particularly wrong with that location, when I've got the camcorder on my desk hooked up to my PC, there's no reason to have the LCD door open, and for the klutzy, it invites all sorts of accidental off-desk flight opportunities.
