1. Viewfinder. When I go back to the A100 it is like looking down a long, gloomy tunnel. I am sure the improvement helps with manual focusing and composition. (Please do not tell me that the A850 or even A900 are even better as I can only cope with so much gear lust
2. Handling. A bit difficult to tie down, but although bigger and heavier, it is just "nicer" to use in the hand.
3. Dynamic range. Now I am quite prepared to be shot down at this point as I have no objective measures, but the A700 seems to be a lot more forgiving in dynamic range, by this I mean not clipping highlights and/or low lights. This does not seem to be something that makes it in to reviews, or pehaps it is just not something I understand the review language for? Is this something that generally gets better up the scale? Do D3s and A900s have awesome dynamic range? When I consider how important the dynamic range of the camera is to me, I am surprised that manufacturers do not make more of it.
Any minus points? High ISO is still not great, but I suspect this is down to (my) software and not the camera. While I like the size and weight, my wife (an infrequent dslr user) does not like it at all. I can well imagine the feedback she would be giving in a focus group