Take a look at the Pentax Optio series (sorry about the lame linK)
http://www.pentaxusa.com/products/ca...roductid=18173
To me the beauty of digital is the small size. This little camera has 5X OPTICAL zoom (digital zoom doesn't cut it). I'm not sure about the battery it uses.
You may also want to check out this
http://www.dpreview.com/site
they have reviews and comments on everything digital. Also, don't skimp on the card; most of my digital camera problems, like corrupted files, were solved when I changed to the SanDisk ULTRA card.
Good Luck