I’ve owned a Canon A70 for the past two months. I think it is the biggest selling digital camera these days. I recommend it highly. Excellent small, but not tiny, size. Nice feel in the hand with barrel grip, with the forefinger controlling zoom and shutter. Takes cheaper Compact Flash memory cards and uses AA batteries–these design choices save consumers some money. The video is suprisingly good and we use it more than I ever expected. Takes VGA quality with sound from 30 sec + depending on the size of your memory card. You can zoom within still pictures when you review them on the LCD and even edit the video and stitch together multiple panorama shots. Full manual/apeture/shutter priority controls. 3X optical.
The only negative is that the lens could be sharper–it is OK, but you would have to purchase much more expensive cameras for a better lens. You can get the A70 for around $280.
You really have to go to the stores learn what is good by repeatedly playing with the cameras.