There are some quality differences between makes and models so as long as you stick with one of the bigger names you'll get reasonable quality.
Canon, Olympus, Nikon, Sony are the best for colour white balance and sensor and lens quality. These are the main things that determine a digital photo's quality.
Larger sensors are better, but more expensive. The other consideration is batteries. I prefer a rechargable dedicated battery rather than the disposible batteries. Better battery life, but you have to remember to charge between uses. Be very careful if you get a disposible battery type because not all batteries will work. Lithium or Cadmium batteries only depending on the camera! Replacing batteries can get expensive as well.
Steer clear of the second tier players as build and component quality can be questionable. Samsung, LG I've had bad experiences with. Either the lenses or the colour quality was poor in several models I've tried out.
These guys do quality reviews:
http://www.choice.com.au/reviews-and...ing-guide.aspx