After much research, I finally came across the perfect (or as close as you can get) one for me. The Olympus E-100RS is a wonder of electronics and craftsmanship. It has everything you could want in a camera: The feel is perfectly natural, the grip is rubber; not too coarse and not too smooth. The rubber viewfinder cover is perfectly comfortable. The buttons are easily accessible when you're ready to take the picture. It was made for people who like to take pictures. Virtually everything in this camera is automatic, HOWEVER, it does allow the operator to disengage the automation and work in manual mode. The fact of the matter is, I could go on for pages talking about the wonders of it, however, you're not here to read ramblings.
On the left is the Olympus; on the right is the SLR Pentax K-1000. The lens on the K-1000 is 80-200mm. The lens on the Olympus is a 38-380 (there's an addition 2.7x digital telephoto that comes it as well). Notice how the Olympus is smaller than the Pentax and has wayyyy more options. Also, it's very light. The batteries weigh more than the camera. I'm telling you: This thing is a marvel.
On the left is the Palm Pilot, equipped with a little digital camera, itself. It is what I used to take a picture of the other two.
Here is an insanely cool thing it -- or the software it comes with -- does: Think panorama, then think panorama x 5. You can take multiple pictures and stitch them together. Here are the examples. You may have to scroll to the right.
So, I stitch the three together and the result is:
This is just a rough example, done without a tripod, for stability. You can see the potential. Keep in mind, you can join up to 10 photographs, vertical, horizontal or both. Hence, instead of taking pictures of mountains, one can now take pictures of mountain ranges(or whatever expanse you see fit).
As mentioned above, the optical lens is 38 - 380mm. You can increase the zoom to 2.7x that with the digital telephoto. All the digital does is the equivalent of using ZOOM in an image editing application. It certainly has its place, mind you. Below, the first picture is taken in side a bagel shop (Great Canadian Bagel on Pembina). The next picture is the full optical zoom. The last is the full telephoto. Yes, zoom can be your friend.
Notice you can see the screws in the middle of the sign. THINK ABOUT IT! The pictures are a bit choppy as I shrank them for the sake of demonstration of a capability. Demo is over. On to some real pics.