I bought this camera sometime in Feb 2005 while I was in US. It’s clarity, I have no words. Even in the worst lit conditions, this camera gives you a very high clarity. Pictures took in my friends camera came 90% dark whereas the ones took in mine were very clear. We could see the persons face clearly even while he was dancing. Absolutely no shake.
The image stabilizer is very good and saving speed is also pretty good. As its just a 3MP camera, you can get a 256MB Compact flash in addition to the standard 32MB it ships with or if you have the habit of taking videos too then go for a 512 CF. Its definitely more than sufficient.
The only negative thing I have seen in this is, if you use the LCD display then it can drain a full duracell battery in 25 to 30 min. I would say you switch to the view finder when you get the battery light flashing and you would be able to take a good 15 pictures without flash. Ofcourse you can continue to use the same battery in a walkman or something which requires less power.
For those who face the same problem as I do, the solution I have found is, go and get yourself a 2500milli amph or higher re-chargable battery and it lasts much longer. I bought myself a set of 2800 milli amph rechargeable batteries from the US and now its pretty fine.