Image sharpness, however, was a major weak spot. The FinePix Z800EXR turned in a score of Poor in our sharpness test, lagging behind most point-and-shoot cameras we've tested in 2010 in that category.

In my hands-on informal tests, photo quality looked decent for a point-and-shoot. Colors tend to be a little washed out, especially with the flash, and there's some visible noise at ISO 400 (though it doesn't become really apparent until ISO 800). Still, it seemed to be better at high-ISO settings than our other two touchscreen cameras (the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX75 and the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX9).

The FinePix Z800EXR also falls short of the competition in terms of . In bright light, 720p sample clips shot with the Z800EXR in AVI format at 24 fps was smooth and bright, but quite a bit less sharp than the video output of similar point-and-shoot cameras. But in our low-light test clip, we couldn't see any of the moving scene at all. Our panel of judges gave the Z800EXR an overall video score of Poor, but bright-light video quality is decent. Audio quality recorded through the Z800EXR's on-board microphone was rated as Fair.

Lastly, battery life falls way short of the 300-plus average we've seen on the vast majority of point-and-shoot cameras. The Z800EXR has a battery life rating of 170 shots per charge of its battery, just enough juice for a battery life rating of Fair.