One thing that bugs me is people constantly talking about megapixels as the defining point of the all digital cameras.
There is more than one factor when talking about cameras, and that is only one part of it.

For example, I have an old digital camera which takes 2 megapixel photos, a Canon A40 - I also have a camera phone which takes 2 megapixel photos, a Sony Ericsson w850i. Can you compare the two? No way. The Canon takes photos that are many times sharper, clearer and with less noise. The reason is a lot to do with the lens quality among other things, and probably the inbuilt processing. The phone-camera just can't compete, and should never be considered as a camera 'replacement' as much as the phone salesman tries to talk it up.

Todays manufacturers and stores are forever throwing around how their cameras do XX megapixels, and it -is- a factor, but it is not the only thing you should base your decision on, at the end of the day a quality lens in a good camera with 3-4 megapixels will take 'better' photos than a cheap Chinese knock off which can take 8 megapixel photos.