I'm really just starting on this journey of photgraphy, so this might be taken with a grain of salt.
I remember when the G1 first came out. I thought that it would be a good move up from my point and shoot camera. The biggest complaint I had was the size. I loved the ergonomics though. Then the E-P1 came out. For a few months I mulled over buying the camera. At the time, the image quality was acceptable even by the "dpreview forum standards"(two and a half years later, 12mp sensor is now utter crap
). Sight unseen, I pulled the trigger. Sure I looked at dpreview samples and DXO mark scores, but at the time
anything was better than my point and shoot. Six to eight months after owning the camera, I ended up having a bi-polar relationship with the camera. I loved the image results, but the camera became frustrating for me to work with. The ergonomics for me were always off. The only thing I loved about the camera was the verticle thumbwheel. In my hands the camera seemed off balance. The AF was slow, especially with the kit lens. But I loved the kit lens compactness. Of course, its an utterly crappy kit lens along with the 17mm pancake
Fast foward another year and I picked up an E-PL2. Ergonomically, in many ways, much better than the E-P1. The camera doesn't feel out of balance now. But drats, I no longer have that verticle thumbwheel. I'm also stuck with the same 12mp that now is being touted as 2 year old technology. The AF is much better with the kit lens, and slightly better with the pancake. The image output is almost as good as the E-P1(I don't know. They played with the jpeg engine and I still seem to get it right. The AWB is better, but the images from the E-P1 still seem a tad bit punchier).
At the end of the day, ergonomics for me plays even a more important role than Image output. It's, at least for me, buying a tiny sportscar. I'd rarely drive it because I'm too big to fit comfortably in the car.