You have gotten some really good advice so far. That camera Tricepilot quoted is a very attractive one for the price right now on Amazon.
Battery life is amazing on the new cameras today. I have a Canon S90 and literally go a week or more and several hundred pictures between charges. It still has life left but my habit is to charge it on Sunday nights before going back to work on monday. The whole AA capable battery pack is a non-issue for me and hasn't been for years now. YMMV.
What are some of your must haves, don't want's on a new camera.
Do you want it to be able to operate in MANUAL mode, where you set the ISO, f/Stop and Shutter Speed?
Do you want it to be able to capture in RAW?
Do you want it to take 1080p Video?
Do you want it to have an internal GPS for Geotag'ing?
Do you want it to have fancy er' artistic scene settings?
$200 bucks today +/- $50 bucks, can snag you a very nice and capable camera.
As others have said. I would stick to Canon or Nikon
It comes down to Ford vs. Chevy argument in the end, as at that price point there is not going to be a tonne of differences in the features.
Have you gone to a Best Buy or a Wal-Mart or even a Target to hold different models in your hand yet? That to me would be a starting point. Many of the camera frames from a MFG are the same, it is the internals and programing the make the price point change. Find one that feels "right" in your hand and then price compare, feature compare online. B&H Photo has a neat "compare" function on their web site, as does Best Buy I believe.
All that said... I don't think either of the below linked cameras would be a bad choice. Good luck in your quest. Ask more questions and we all will try to assist.
Canon SX260
Nikon Coolpix 9200