Advanced compact or DSLR? Depends what you want from a camera. The compact is light to always have with you and will take excellent photos in reasonable light. The DSLR is far more versatile (especially as you gradually add lenses, flash gun and other bits and pieces over the years) and will inherently give higher quality, especially in poor light but rather bulky to take out casually. The G10 is a fine camera capable of superb results but ISO 800 is the maximum you can set for reasonable quality without too much noise but 400 is better and the lower settings better still. For the specification of the G10 have a look on Canons website.
http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Prod...ex.asp?specs=1