Poor battery life in what is otherwise a good camera

I purchased the Samsung S630 for my mother to use. She is not too technologically "savvy" and I was hoping for a simple, easy to use beginner's digital camera. We chose the Samsung at Walmart; good price and seemingly easy to use. I was amazed when I got it home to find a roughly 100 page online user's manual. Rather than just a simple point and shoot, this camera is feature packed for $99, and other than a rather long "learning curve" is a great camera with lots of features in a small package. In our experience, however, it won't last any time at all on a pair of AA batteries. We used good Duracell batteries, and just cannot get enough battery life out of the camera to make it truly useable. One might have better luck trying the more expensive lithium batteries or possibly just using NiCad rechargeables, but really, it just does not hold up well enough to do a 'photo shoot' of any kind without a battery change.

It is going back to Walmart under their 30 day return policy. Too bad, because other than that, it's a nice little unit. Maybe "your mileage may vary" and if someone has one of these and is getting good battery life, please post your experiences.