I am looking to buy a new camera, and have narrowed it down to these two, but cannot decide.

Canon has been making cameras longer, but Sony is not bad, and it has the Stab Control. Does anyone know the difference in battery life?

Please help???

The SD550 is rated at 150 shots per charge and the T9 at 240 shots.

The SD550

Much stronger flash
Optical viewfinder
7Mp with extremely good lens and sensor

No stabilization
No internal memory for permanent album
Larger and heavier
LCD not high resolution
Fewer shots on battery charge

T9

Stabilization
Better than average ISO400 noise
Large internal memory
Smaller and lighter
High resolution LCD
Lens doesn't protrude from camera

6Mp
Flash not real strong
Some people don't like sliding cover
No optical viewfinder

They are both excellent cameras. Both give lots of red-eye.

If I were in the market I would wait for the Canon SD700 to come down in price – they just arrived at a couple of online stores and are selling at full retail. It is stabilized, 4X optical, has an optical viewfinder and Canon claims good higher ISO noise – it goes to ISO800. I don't know how the noise thing will work out but Canon probably isn't going to release a lemon. I would want to see some good reviews though, and those aren't out yet.

thanks, that helps a lot. maybe I will wait a bit longer.

just a question about the battery life. It says it can take 90 pics on a charge. Does this mean, switch on take 90 pics then it dies. Or will there be more battery life if I use it like I use my current camera, switch on take a few pics, then switch off, switch on, a few pics, then off, etc etc. Would this make it last longer?