Canon's A5xx series is best in picture quality and feature , but a little bulky . By bulky i mean not comfortably pocketable. But if you can live with it then it'll be cheap and best.
Nikon L1x series is close second in quality , buy usually have less feature , 3x zoom instead of canon's 4x etc. Nikon is actually pocketable.
Panasonic are little more costly but they are king of quality in compacts. And olympus cameras i didn't have much experience with , but seems like they are not great at color reproduction.