Digital Camera ?

I have a Canon Powershot SD400, as a basic camera it serves my purpose more or less. I am ok with the picture quality but the night shots suck big time. Even without the flash mode i get lot of haze, specially if i were to take a skyline in the night. Besides it time for an upgrade., with the basic criterion of improving the nightshots i am on lookout for a non-DSLR camera. I could almost afford to buy a DSLR like a REBEL or something but then as a photographer i am not there yet..besides i would have to invest as much on a lens - and hence i would be looking at a price range of $1000. Not now...!!

After some research i have now narrowed on two cameras.
1. Fujifilm FinePix S6000 6.3-Megapixel
2. Canon S3 IS

Having already experienced a canon i am real skeptical about S3, but i think now a days there are more S3's selling than any other in the market. The S3 has a slightly bigger zoom at 12x opti v/s finepix's 10.7x. The ISO of finepix is heads above rest hovering around 100 - 3200, while the S3 runs around 80-800. The best thing about Canon is i wouldnt need to upgrade my SD card (i already have an 1 GB SD) while finepix works on a xD card.

I am looking for a camera which gives me
* Good photographs at Low light - Decent ISO, good shutter speed
* Decent Zoom - Just enough to capture Rafa from the last stand in Cinci Master
* Fast Start ups - Dont want to loose the moment while i switch the camera & zoom
* Price - Around $300 bucks..

With this in mind could you throw some thoughts on these two cameras ?