A very good choice for point-and-shoot cameras

I bought this camera right from bestbuy because i needed one for the weekend i was going to spend with my family. We looked at different digital cameras but this one was fully loaded at the price. I also read reviews about this camera and the competitive Sony series. Overall this camera is a very good buy, takes great pictures, a good number of manual settings makes this one a good choice with people who migrated from a film camera to a digital one. The menu is easy to navigate, screen size is good enough. once you have the picture quality set you do not have to set them again even when the camera is shut off. The screen is swivel so you don't have to worry about scratching it, etc. Also the power up is pretty fast at least for me as i am not a professional photographer. Till date i have taken about 500 photos and all of them are excellent snaps.
But there are certain bad points as with all good cameras. First, the zoom lens makes a creaking sound when you zoom in and out. Its not a lot of noise but you can hear it. Now i am used to it specially after i have seen some of Sony also make the same noise. Secondly, at the far end of the zoom, the pictures are quite a bit shaky unless you have a tripod to stabilize the shaking. Also the picture quality gets poor.
Thirdly, it works on 4 AA batteries which are a little too much. I have a charger but with only four slots for batteries so if you are out then you are out. Fourthly, you cannot shoot more than 7 mins of video. I could only get about 5 mins of it on a 512mb card. I guess i would have to change the settings in order to get more.

But even with these bad points, this is a very good camera to buy as the above points are minor points and are just a matter of ones preferences. Definitely reccommend this one to buy.