I think you would be surprised as to how much of the EX3 body is actually metal. The paint has a few scratches and marks on mine (it get a lot of rough use) and they all show bright shiny metal. A lot of it feels like plastic but is in fact metal.
I think the mic holder was deliberatly made so that it would break off if bumped. This prevents another part of the camera or tyhe mic itself from getting damaged. The viewfinder brackets on the full size sony cameras are all designed to break if you bash the viewfinder. This prevents the viewfinder getting smashed and has saved me a lot of money in the past.

Erik, there is a playback speaker on the EX3.
If you play back a clip turn up the volume you will hear it.
It is located under the handle at the rear.

Oh and I love my EX3!

Hey thanks guys I will check it out... Hey I did some experiments last night. I tried all the various record formats to see if there was a difference in low light. One of the things I will be doing with this camera is some near pitch black shoots... only lit by the headlights of ATVs and Sand Rails. I found 1080 30p had the brightest picture and the least amount of grain when using high gain. Second was 720 30p. I was surprised at how much difference there was in the amount of grain when using some of the other modes, 1080 60i had the darkest picture and by far the most graininess.

1080 30p I could use 12db and the picture was still pretty nice, 1080 60i at 12db was a washed out grainy mess and darker. :)

Very nice, I love this camera.