Guides to buying a digital camera

There are many brands and models of digital camera in the market. However, how do you choose a right digital camera for yourself? One of the lessons that I learned recently is "DO NOT BELIEVE WHAT THE SALES PERSONS TELL YOU".

My advices on digital camera (compact) buying process are:
1. Determine the budget
2. Determine the purpose of buying the camera
3. Survey about the cameras that fits into 1 &2 above. Determine which are the cameras that suit the criteria
4. Read the reviews about the cameras that you have shortlisted.

There a lots of websites about digital camera. In the websites, you could find lots of information about digital camera. Most importantly, there are reviews about different models of camera from different brands. They have a set of standard criteria/process to test the camera and basically comparing the cameras based on the same standard. However, that's is not enough. Read about the feedback/comments from users who have bought the cameras.

1 http://www.digitalcameratracker.com
2 http://www.steves-digicams.com
3 http://www.dpreview.com
4 http://www.cameras.co.uk
5 http://www.letsgodigital.org/
6 http://www.dcviews.com/
7 http://www.trustedreviews.com/
8 http://reviews.cnet.com
9 http://www.digitalcamerareview.com/
10 http://www.photographypress.co.uk/
11 http://digital-photography-school.com/
12 http://www.infoborder.com
13 http://alatest.com/
14 http://www.dphotojournal.com/
15 http://www.pcworld.com
16 http://review.zdnet.com/
17 http://www.pocket-lint.com

5. Get the feels of the camera by actually playing with them in the shops.

Additional point:
i) More pixel not necessarily means better photo. It depends on the quality of the processor. In fact, you don't need 10M if you only use it for leisure.
ii) Make sure that camera can still produce good quality photo even at ISO400. In the auto mode, camera can automatically adjust the ISO and would reach high value. The recent camera I bought coudl not produce decent photo using auto scene selector mode.