Similar for me, I started looking for a small compact camera I can pull out, roughly aim at a scene and take plenty of pictures for later, with minimal disruption of the moment (I especially don't want to introduce a Smartphone to everything, I want people to continue in that moment without the impulse to pose for a picture).
After searching alot, I found the long-discontinued DxO-One being a gem. A really nice blend of good camera-hardware and ultra-compact design, at a (now) crazy-low price. It almost has a analogue-camera feel to it, because you don't get to review the picture instantly but have to connect it to a phone or PC first.
It's a hardware designed for a ~700 USD pricetag. It flopped but it can still be purchased at ~110 USD as old stock, and that's hard to beat for a large-sensor (1" size) camera with a great lens (f/1.8 with mechanical iris).
It has a tiny display for rough configuration, linux OS, I started collecting data about it, because it also has quite some potential to be hacked and customized [0]