Things that I find to be important are - low shutter lag, compactness, long zoom, image quality (ofcourse), full manual controls (ie, control over shutter speed, apperture, etc). I just upgraded my canon s230 to pentax 750z. so far I am happy. It got 5x zoom and 7.1 megapixels, full control and pretty compact.. also got a flip out lcd display that I thought was a gimmick at first, but now I find it to be very convenient.
Ofcourse it all depends on your needs. Check out these websites for camera reviews - dcresource.com, dpreview.com, steves-digicams.com and imaging-resource.com
Is this an SLR ? I have an old Pentax ME 35 MM film camera, bought in 1980. Its been overhauled once and still works fine. I'd like to get a digital but don't want a camera that I can't see through (SLR with a big lens)...