Opinions from a complete novice

My Background-
As it says in the title this opinion is coming from the viewpoint of a novice/first time digital camera user .
I did quite a bit of research on different cameras before settling for the V1. I've had the camera for about two weeks now and have used it every day trying to get to grips with the features and buttons on the camera.
I was looking for a camera that would let a dummy aim at a subject and all I had to do was press the button , I was also looking for a camera with a good lens and lots of extras to play about with once I got around the basics.

Handling-
To say this camera does well is an understatement, I have taken many pictures and only one out of around 200 has been deleted due to my inability to wait for the camera to focus.
The camera is bulkier than some of the more compact Sony cameras on the market and you'll certainly need a carry case to cart this one about, the best way to get an idea of the size is to sit 3 packs of playing cards together and this is as close as you'll get without actually picking the camera up in a store. It feels quite heavy for it's size but this gives it a more robust and solid feel whilst holding rather than feeling flimsy.

Camera Features-
There are oodles of extras on this camera and a great Carl Zeiss 4x zoom lens.The camera also has a great feature for taking photos in dark areas or places that are dimly lit , when aiming the camera a half press of the button projects a laser grid over the subject to be photographed giving the camera reference points for focus etc, fully pressing the button then triggers the flash and even in a very dark room the picture quality and sharpness is outstanding. Add this feature to a 5 megapixel camera and you can imagine the quality , as for red eye I have yet to find a picture where any red eye is visible even with the red eye reduction feature switched off. The camera has a great dial on the top that controls the mode the camera is in from auto shooting mode to recording video to playback mode all with one turn of the dial , this is so easy to operate , you then have a menu button on the back that can take you into different settings ie- picture quality , type of subject - beach,snow,focus-near,focus-far,twilight shooting then you have type of effect - normal,sepia,negative,solarize . In addition you have the nightframing /night shot switch that lets you shoot pictures at night either with an infra red light or the previously mentioned laser grid that assists focusing in dark settings.

Downsides-
The camera takes fantastic pictures in any situation, the only things I have found are occasional signs of purple fringing at the edges of some objects that sit against a brighter background ie - the edge of a bridge that has the sky behind , this is something that hasn't bothered me much as it's very slight and I've only noticed it on one or two shots out of 200, this might be partly the fault of myself as at the moment I'm just pointing and clicking .
Other points that crop up about the camera is as said in other opinions - the position of the flash , the flash is located on the top left hand corner and pops up , this is a perfect spot to rest the fingers of your left hand and I've found a few times I've stopped the flash popping up , this is easily remedied as all I did was lift my finger and retake the shot , not so hard to remedy and after a while it soon sinks in. This camera being a Sony means you are going to have to stick with the Sony memory stick , I have a 128 meg stick that cost about £50, with the camera set at the best picture quality I can get 51 pictures saved per stick , remember that this is the highest normal setting and you can lower these settings to get more photos on a stick , although these memory sticks are more expensive than other mediums I can see the prices dropping so it's not that big a problem . One other sticky point is that I am constantly watching the battery life , it hasn't run out on me yet but if the camera is in constant use ie - at a motor racing event with the lcd screen on it seems to drain away after a couple of hours max.
All in all I weighed up these points when I was thinking of buying this camera and I knew about them through reading other reviews , I see no major drawbacks with this camera
all the problems can be easily sorted ,
purple fringing - only visible in harsh circumstances, flash location - move hand
poor battery life - purchase an extra battery .
And that's it , I have no other complaints about this camera only more praise. This camera has lots more to it that I've still to discover so I might come back and edit this review later on. I've taken lots of pictures of different subjects in different lighting situations all on the automatic mode and the camera has given me great results every time , I'm really impressed with this camera and have no regrets buying it.