My main gripe is that Sony have crippled what is essentially an enthusiasts' camera ... this is an enthusiast camera. One is left with the impression that Sony designers have no experience of actual photography and what photographers actually want.
I assume that someone in Sony at least knows how many of their various camera models are sold (and what lenses are sold, and ...) - which is more than I know, and I guess more than you know.
Sony
might actually have a better understanding of who's buying their cameras; maybe.
... only has bracketing up to 0.7 of a stop either way. ... Yes I know the cameras have auto-HDR which isn't bad but certainly not suitable for all occasions.
I think the limited bracketing only becomes a problem because auto HDR and multi-shot NR are not available for RAW (because we used camera clipping indicators to check that the highlights weren't blown, and we'll use LR for small exposure changes).
Just as bad is the fact that if one resorts to auto-HDR in low light situations and want to bang the camera on a tripod, then the flaming remote release won't work and one has to use the normal shutter button which kind of defeats the purpose of a tripod.
With the SLT-A35 (and I suspect NEX 7) the problem is that the self-timer functions have been placed in the "Drive Mode" menu, in such a way that setting a self-timer prevents setting bracketing or continuous shooting or auto HDR or multi-shot NR. Basically the cameras need a separate "Timer mode" (as previously seen in the Sony W300 P&S.)
I'm not going to hold my breath any longer waiting for an update for any of the problems. Sony obviously isn't listening...
Strange you say that Sony isn't listening after you mentioned the announcement of SLT-A37.
That means the SLT-A35 has been replaced by an updated camera after less than a year!
I wasn't the only person who told them that I wanted a movable LCD and a digital level gauge (but maybe we should wait to see if that does appear in the camera).
Maybe Sony was listening. Maybe their response is to make incremental improvements and release new SLT cameras each year, in the same way that they previously released improved P&S cameras each year.