takes great photos even after screen cracks

I got the SD450 for school after using my wife's SD200 for months. I have been recommending it to everyone I know who's looking for a solid supercompact performer. Two weeks ago my screen stopped working one day, which surprised me because I always carry it on my belt in it's leather Canon hardcase (PSC-90), and it is never out of the case longer than it takes to power-up, take the picture and powerdown.
Since I was traveling far from home at the time, and confirmed that the camera still took great pictures by reviewing my SD card on a SD200 camera, I covered the nonfunctional screen with some cardboard and used the optical viewfinder instead. With a little trial and error I learned how to turn off the flash with a few button presses, and realized the movie mode still worked.
Of course it only took photos and movies at the last settings before the screen went bad, but I was able to continue using the camera for the remaining 2 weeks of my trip, and the pictures still came out great.
It's too bad that an otherwise great product is marred by Canon's unwillingness to recognize and address the screen cracking flaw.