it has that amazingly wide zoom range, a 35x ratio... My ex-wife has a similar Canon compact, with an uber-long zoom ratio...kind of interesting to have a small digicam with such a powerfully long lens and plenty of megapixels...
I looked at some of the pictures in the thread above; IMHO, not d-slr grade quality, but, then the shooters using these did not appear to be very skilled. For some types of shooting, I think the smaller-sensored digicams make better pictures than larger-sensor cameras, and I think people respond more favorably to a small digicam than they do to a big, herkin' Canon or Nikon d-slr camera.