Final Comments
The question is this: am I happy enough to keep the E-P1? Yes. Despite my complaints, I learned how to take good pictures with it without missing too many opportunities (I missed one, though, that I'm sure I'll kick myself on for a long time). At least I'll keep the E-P1 until Nikon or someone else gets more things right. Some Olympus fans will have cringed at some of my complaints (noise, focus, controls, etc.), but the E-P1 is not a perfect camera by any means. It's a good competent first step into the gap and a reasonably solid small camera with DSLR-like performance. I hesitate to say same-as-DSLR performance, as you really can't get to D700-like performance with a sensor half the size. As much as you want that miracle to happen, it won't. But had Olympus offered me a 6mp compact 4/3 camera with this level of performance at the same time Nikon offered me a D100, it might have been a close race. That they didn't shows how much Olympus got wrong in their original entry into DSLRs.
Drawbacks
* Bigger than you think. Definitely not a shirt pocket camera, though it fit into my big vest and jacket pockets with the lens collapsed.
* Missing elements. Some will miss the flash or optical viewfinder. The rest of us will simply say that the lenses we really want with this camera are still missing in action.
* Retro look, but too-modern controls. Hope you don't need to dip down into the menus often. Game Boy meets Pinball Machine.
* Details get in the way of shooting. Needs a better LCD, a rethink on the compact camera-like control buttons, a better autofocus system, and a host of other small tweaks.
Positives
* Smaller than its cousins. Finally, 4/3 in an appropriate camera size. A much more comfortable travel camera than any other DSLR-level camera to date.
* Almost any lens fits. I can't think of many lenses you couldn't mount to this camera (with the appropriate adapter). I'm using some Leica lenses (the Voigtlander 12mm is a nice companion), but I can mount my Nikkor 400mm f/2.8 on this camera, too (it won't autofocus or use VR, though).
* Image Quality about right. Smallest camera with decent image quality to date. With care, DSLR quality and little compromise.