very very good, not great

Very nice camera, with nice optics and a comfortable design. Have had for 1 month.

A bit big for a shirt or pants pocket, but fine for a bag and not too bulky just to carry around in your hand on excursions.
I wanted high megapixels and a decent flash for not over $350 and this fits the bill.

Images have lots of detail and good tones with some clipping where large color areas look blocky and a bit unnatural and some pictures seem more grainy than I expected. Overall I am very pleased with the images for a P&S camera. It will not match a digital SLR if that is what you are looking for. My 6.3 MP digital rebel takes better shots than this 8.1 megapixel camera, but for convenience and for short video clips this is just fine. Images are much better than my last digital P&S (5MP pentax). Red-eye is not too bad without using the red-eye reduction.

The flash is strong and can work well in a room. I don't use the flash much but am usually disappointed by weak flashes on P&S cameras, this one is a bit stronger than most so works well for fill flash and for larger groups. My wife needs a good flash for her work photos so I was happy with this.

The read and write times are fast with a regular SD card.

The things I don't like:
1. the dial on top of the camera; it has no lock and it is very easy to accidentally switch modes without noticing it, so you have to check your mode every time you start using it. Not a big deal, but if you are getting this for someone who doesn't want to have to (or just wont) check or set anything before starting shooting then this may not be the best choice.
2. The autofocus seems to sometimes get easily confused.
3. In auto mode you cannot manage the flash much so have to switch to program mode to access the more varied flash options such as turning it off. Kind of humbug. Default is red-eye reduction that makes long lag when not needed.

Wish it had a small button lock for the dial and a stabilizer for photographs and not just for video.