What do I need to look for when buying a digital camera?

I need to buy a new digital camera... but I'm not really up on the "lingo" and I dont know what to look for. I did notice with my old digital camera that when I would send my digital photos off to be printed, they always came out "digital looking"... not very clear at all... How do I know which camera has a higher quality (other than price)? Id really love to have a camera that I can have the photos printed and they look like they came from regually 35mm film.