We'd been talking about it for ages. Without really planning it, we headed out shopping together on a Saturday, when we didn't have any other commitments on the day. It left us free to spend about an hour discussing cameras at the small camera shop.
We chose an Olympus, 3x zoom. We can both handle the buttons (good tip!), you can turn off the beeps and signals, AND the flash, and it has a nice feature for taking pictures in low light. It's also got a super-up-close setting, suitable for pics of finds in museums.
AND we spent only a small amount over my planned £200 limit.
I'm hoping to take it to Hyderabad with me, so I can photograph my coworkers and their work setting as well. I feel like I want to know what their offices are like.