Sony DSC-QX10 DSC-QX10/B In-depth Review Smartphone Attachable Lens-Style Camera

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I will be posting image samples soon! Review index:
0:08 - Hardware
2:21 - Smartphone attachment
4:11 - App usage
7:43 - Settings and photo copying functions
8:17 - Conclusion
One of the things I admire about Sony is that they have the ability to experiment with new concepts and rapidly bring them to market. This is most certainly one of those experimental products.
Think of the QX-10 as a disembodied camera. Your smartphone becomes the brains, with Sony providing the lens and sensor in a small compact unit. The device can attach to a smart phone or can be held separately (or even mounted on a tripod). This concept brings some interesting creative possibilities, given the lens can be put in places separate from the 'viewfinder' on the smartphone.
On board is an 18 megapixel sensor that delivers image quality on par with other cameras at this price point. The lens can also capture video at 1440 x 1080.
The smartphone interfaces with the camera via WiFi. The Wifi has a password and it's printed on the quicks start guide that comes with the camera. It will be easily lost so I suggest storing the manual in a safe place. When connected to the camera the phone is unable to access other WiFi networks, so users of iPod Touches or other devices that don't have a secondary internet connection will be unable to go online when using the camera.
A memory card slot takes M2 cards or standard MicroSD cards. The default behavior is for full res images to be copied to the memory card while smaller low resolution images are sent back to the phone via WiFi. It's possible to copy the full res images back to the phone with each shot, but that slows down the process considerably as another photo cannot be taken while it's copying an active image over. It's also possible to grab the full res images from a copy function built into the app.
My two biggest gripes are the following:
1. No manual controls for the camera - only ISO and exposure level can be adjusted.
2. Slow operating speeds - there's a lot of complexity going on here with Wifi connections, apps, etc. So the workflow doesn't feel as smooth as a dedicated point and shoot camera or even the phone's internal camera app.
A lot can be improved in software and Sony does have a ways to go to make this feel less 'beta.' But I'm excited to see what they do with it moving forward and look forward to revising my review.
PRODUCT ACQUISITION DISCLOSURE: I received this product through the Amazon Vine program to review on Amazon's site.