Need a point-and-shoot for good colors in vista shots

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Hi everyone. Thanks in advance for any advice...

Budget - $300.

Size - no preference. Doesn’t have to be tiny.

Megapixels - 5

Zoom - something past 3x would be nice, but there seems to be drawbacks to the UZ cameras, esp. for point-and-shoot people such as myself.

Image quality - 10

Manual controls - A little bit. I have a Canon A70 and have had some success fiddling at sunset, but otherwise don’t know enough to really take advantage of them. Though I would like to learn, I am most times required to shoot fast and move, so I usually take 3 or 4 and hope for 1.

Usage – Vistas, mostly. I am a freelance journalist and have sold some photos along with travel writing – shots of ruins, streetscapes, etc.

Big prints? - No.

Indoors? Low light photos? - Not many indoors, but I do enjoy getting dusk shots. I’ve had trouble with the A70 in that way.

Action photos? - Some.

Brands? - My first digital was an Olympus D360/460 or something like that. 1/3 megapixels. I had better results with it than the Canon A70 and recall likeing the colors. Also, I find the A70 hard to navigate.

Models in mind? - Have read up on the Olympus C-5500, Panasonic Lumix 6.0 megapixel models with image stabilization, Konica Dimage.

Special features? (Wide Angle, Image Stabilization, Weatherproof, Hotshoe, Rotating LCD) - Image stabilization sounds very helpful, esp. in low light.

As mentioned above, I am somewhat disappointed with the A70 – apart from the low light problem, I have also spent lots of time this year in rather sunny places and find that in many of my shots the colors seem muted and there’s lots of brightness. Perhaps I could get around this with the manual controls, but I would rather have a point-and-shoot that can do this for me. Lots of times I need to snap it fast and don’t have time to adjust the controls.
Anyways, I liked my first Olympus and so have considered the C-5500, but it seems slow and the comments on the review on this site (dull colors) are clearly a tripup for me. The Panasonic Lumix model with 6x zoom and image stabilizing sounds nice, but am a bit spooked by the lack of a traditional viewfinder.
Note: I'd be holding on to the A70 a little longer, but will be in Singapore next week and figure I can probably save a bit there. Again, thanks for any replies...

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Howdy again. After reading lots on this board (apart from being rather impressed with how some of you seem to manage to know every camera -- wow!), it seems that the Fuji F10, Olympus C5500, Canon A95 are the likely suitables for me. I'll try out the 5500, and if I don't find it too slow, I will get it.

But it kinda bothers me that I have not enjoyed the Canon A series, because perhaps it would be a common recommendation. I found the sunny day pictures to have muted colors, and had trouble getting focus at night. I am just a point-and-shooter, really. Am I missing something?