When I bought my first digital camera over 4 1/2 years ago I looked at several brands and then at a family gathering a sister in law had a Canon A70 and let me use it for a couple of hours.
I have arthritis in my fingers and this camera was easy for me to hold. I liked the picture quality and number of settings if I felt like venturing away from automatic setting.
The 3.2 megapixel A70 served me well until it stopped working correctly after 4 1/2 years. I replaced it with another Canon, an A720IS 8 megapixel, optical image stabilization, face detection, 6x optical zoom - a nice camera that so far takes good pictures at a decent price.
I stayed with Canon because of ergonomics and familiarity with the controls.
I'm not saying that other brands and models aren't as good.
It's important to think of what you want to do with a camera, then researching the available ones, and try them out to get the best choice for you.