Decide what to buy | the Reevoo.com blog, featuring news on TVs, cameras, laptops, mp3 players & other gadgets, shopping tips and deals, reviews and more

We?ve been looking into design here at Reevoo. Good product design is becoming more and more important and clever and innovative designs are what consumers look for to save time and make their lives a little easier.

So we looked into which brands were coming up with the best designs. When a shopper buys something from one of Reevoo?s 55 retail partners, they are sent an email asking them to rate it. One of the categories they rate is the design of the product.

Looking at 22,000 products, with over 15 reviews, we took these design scores and ranked all of the products in terms of their score for design ? the product with the highest score at the top.

What we found was pretty impressive for one brand in particular. In the top 100 products for design, a whopping 51 of them are from Samsung! It?s a real result for the brand that has put a strong focus on design in recent years.

LG in second place and Sony and Apple in joint third made up the top 3.

If you?re a regular reader of Decide What to Buy, I?m sure you can guess at which product Numatic had in the top 100? Hetty! She?s had a stonking 2008, already topping the best vacuum cleaner list back in June and in March.

But we wanted to look deeper into the data so we split the products up into categories. We looked at Home Entertainment, Mobile Phones, White Goods, Computing and Home and DIY in more detail to see which brand?s products performed the best for design in each category.

And here are the results:

Home Entertainment:
1. Toshiba 46XF355D (television)
2. Samsung LE37A656 (television)
3. Toshiba 40XF355D (television)
4. Samsung LE37A436T (television)
5. Samsung YP-K3JAB 4GB (MP3 player)
6. Samsung YP-P2JCB 8GB (MP3 player)
7. LG 32LG5010 (television)
8. Sony Bravia KDL32W4000U (television)
9. Pioneer Kuro PDP5080XD (television)
10. Samsung PS50Q97HD (television)

Mobile Phones:
1. Samsung F480 Tocco
2. Apple iPhone 8/16GB
3. Nokia 8600
4. Motorola PEBL U6
5. Samsung P520 Armani
6. Motorola W375
7. Sony Ericsson W890i
8. Sony Ericsson T650i
9. Motorola ROKR U9
10. Nokia 7500

White Goods:
1. Bosch KTR18P20GB (fridge)
2. Miele GT 316 ES (freezer)
3. AEG-Electrolux Santo 75348KG (fridge-freezer)
4. Baumatic BF207SLM (fridge-freezer)
5. Kenwood GT/AL17 (microwave)
6. Samsung RSA1DHMH (fridge-freezer)
7. Daewoo ERF336MB (fridge-freezer)
8. Samsung RSH1DTMH (fridge-freezer)
9. Miele KFN 8762 SDed (fridge-freezer)
10. Samsung RSH1DBBP (fridge-freezer)

Computing:
1. Apple MacBook MB403
2. SONY Vaio VGN CR31Z
3. HP DV9646EM RECON
4. ACER M1100
5. Dell Inspiron 1525
6. HP DV9702EA
7. Compaq Presario V6642EM
8. HP V6630EM
9. HP DV9705
10. Toshiba Equium P200-1ED

Home & DIY:
1. Numatic Hetty (vacuum cleaner)
2. Neff B1442NO (oven)
3. Neff B1442S0 (oven)
4. Neff U1322N1GB (oven)
5. Electrolux Insight EKT6045X (oven)
6. Bosch HBN1315 (oven)
7. Prestige 47433 (steam cooker)
8. Bosch HBN131251 (oven)
9. Aeg B41014 (oven)
10. Neff B1422 (oven)

It’s summer time! Well, it’s a little hotter than usual. Anyway, it’s definitely time for us to be reaching for our cameras and taking snaps of our holidays, family and friends. If your camera is about as useful as a chocolate teapot, chances are you’ll be looking around for a new one. We’ve taken all the stress out of the process by having a look at what consumers think about the cameras they’ve bought. After someone buys a camera through one of Reevoo’s partners, they get an email questionnaire to fill out about the product. They’re asked all about image quality, features, ease of use and so on.

We’ve taken these scores and comments and compiled a list of the top 10 compact digital cameras, as rated by consumers who have bought them.

So here are the results:
1.    Sony Cybershot DSC-W130
2.    Casio Exilim EX-Z1200
3.    Sony Cybershot DSC-T9
4.    Sony Cybershot DSC-T2
5.    Fujifilm Finepix F100
6.    Kodak Easyshare M1033
7.    Canon Digital IXUS 80IS
8.    Kodak Easyshare Z650
9.    Casio Exilim EX-S600
10.  Canon PowerShot A640

And here are the scores for all the categories:

Top of the bunch is the Sony Cybershot DSC-W130. It has great reviews and at £114, it seems to be the best all-rounder for the money. But if you want to pay a little extra, the Casio Exilim EX-Z1200 has top scores for both image and build quality and its 2.8 inch screen did prove very popular with owners.

The most expensive camera was the Kodak Easyshare Z650. Consumers loved that it looked like an SLR but they did say that the lens cap pops off all the time.

Every camera has good and bad points so have a look at the scores and then check out the reviews to see if you can find the best camera for you. You can find digital compact camera reviews, SLR reviews or simply just browse through all of the camera reviews over on Reevoo.

Last week, I was lucky enough to talk to Pat Foley, Marketing & Operations Manager at Dixons. Dixons is part of DSG international plc, which is one of Europe’s leading specialist electrical retailing groups.

We?re seeing a bit of a slowdown in the economy at the moment so I asked Pat a few questions about what?s happening in the retail industry…

What are you responsible for at Dixons?
At Dixons.co.uk I am responsible for Marketing and Operations which includes the generation and management of all customer traffic to the site, looking after the customer experience while they are shopping on the site, ensuring the site is functioning as it should, site design, 3rd party partner relationships and our customer contact centre for sales and aftersales customer contacts. All of this means that every day presents exciting new challenges and opportunities.

What are the biggest challenges facing on-line retail?
The biggest challenges are ensuring that we continue to manage our costs effectively to allow us to continue to give our customers excellent value for money.

Are you ready for Christmas?
Yes we have already started to formulate our plans for Christmas and expect this Christmas to be another bumper season for on-line.

What?s been your proudest moment at Dixons?
One of my proudest moments was working with the team at Reevoo to develop the customer-generated product content on the Dixons.co.uk site. I really do believe that the impartial customer content adds value to the customer experience and helps our customers make the right decisions. (we didn’t even ask Pat to say this - honest!)

Has the credit crunch changed buying habits?
If anything our experience is that the credit crunch has benefited on-line as more and more customers are turning to Dixons.co.uk for the best value, service and prices.

Will off-line retail still be around in 20 years?
There will always be a place for retail stores- they will sit alongside on-line etailers for many years to come. DSGI operates a multichannel strategy with a mix of on-line and retail businesses offering customers a choice of options from pure on-line, to retail stores, to reserve and collect. Many customers use all three options at different times and for different purchases.

What websites do you admire and why?
I am very proud of what we have achieved with the Dixons.co.uk website over the last two years. It was brave and exciting move taking one of the best known brands off the high street and turning it into a successful pure play on-line e-tailer. I also admire the BBC i player because of its ease of use and interactivity.

What?s the last thing you bought on-line?
I shop on-line almost every week and the last thing I bought was an sd memory card, purchased from www.dixons-entertainment.co.uk which was exceptional value!