Timing
Since they're rarely reported on but very important to the picture-taking experience, I measure both cycle times and shutter delay times for all the cameras I review, using a test system I designed and built for the purpose. (Crystal-controlled, with a resolution of 0.001 second.) Here are the numbers I collected for the Minolta DiMAGE Xt:

NOTE: My qualitative characterizations of camera performance below (that is, "reasonably fast," "about average," etc.) are meant to be relative to other cameras of similar price and general capabilities. Thus, the same shutter lag that's "very fast" for a low-end consumer camera might be characterized as "quite slow" if I encountered it on a professional model. The comments are also intended as only a quick reference: If performance specs are critical for you, rely on the absolute numbers to compare cameras, rather than my purely qualitative comments.

Power
The DiMAGE Xt uses a tiny, flat LiIon cell (NP-200 form factor), but displays surprisingly good battery life given the minuscule dimensions of both the camera and battery. - I still strongly recommend picking up a second battery when you buy the camera though, as digicam batteries invariably run out at the worst possible time.

The table below shows the DiMAGE Xt's actual power drain in various operating modes, and projected battery life, based on a 750 mAh battery capacity:

This is fairly typical (that is, short) battery life for a subcompact camera. The excellent news though, is the nearly zero power consumption in record mode when the LCD is left turned off. This means you can literally leave the camera on and ready to shoot all day without putting so much as a dent in your battery life. - If the optical viewfinder were more accurate, I'd rate the DiMAGE Xt's battery life as outstanding, but as it is, you need to rely on the LCD for any accurate framing, cutting battery life significantly.

As always, I strongly advise purchasing a second battery along with the camera, to avoid running out of juice at an inconvenient moment.

Storage Capacity
The DiMAGE Xt stores its photos on SD (Secure Digital) memory cards, and a 16 MB card is packed with the camera. As always, I strongly recommend buying at least a 32MB card, preferably a 64MB one, to give yourself extra space for extended outings. The chart below shows how many images can be stored on the included 16MB card at each size/quality setting, and the approximate amount of image compression applied in each mode. (The more image compression that's applied, the smaller the image files, but the lower quality the photos will be.)