Suggest me a good camera?

Well, I'm getting a camera for my birthday and it has to be within the $100-250 range.
I need it to take crisp, vivid photos of me and my friends with good light exposure and effects.
Any suggestions? Nikon and Canon branded cameras are preffered.
And it OBVIOUSLY has to be a P&S.

Iphone 4 does this well. And many apps that can give you many advance things for free.
but if you insist on P&S, i would recommend canon http://www.dpreview.com/..._ixus500hs
canon are easiest to use and best resale value.
this canon has 12x zoom and as thin as a deck of card.

i personally will forgo p&S, and use iPhone.
many pro applications inside. You can snap panoramas, HDR, edit your photos in the phone and upload it anywhere you want. And it backs up your photos on all your iDevices, so no need to take out sd card and the hassle to have a computer to edit them.