Try also playing with your custom white balance. I've found that A2 or A3 makes things "pop" a bit more but is sometimes too much for darker-skinned people (my Columbian girlfriend, for example.) It really does warm up shots, however, and looks somehow more neutral to me. I only use this setting with the "Neutral" color tone setting though as it tends to be too much with "Vivid".
Also, sharpness all depends on your focus and your distance/DOF. You can make any lens/camera/point and shoot "sharp". Spend time trying to get things perfectly in focus. I'm still struggling with this, but I did read it several places
Also, you can adjust the sharpness setting as a custom setting. Bump that up to +6 or so. It should come standard at somewhere around +2 or so. This, along with a better lens helped my pictures become so much more crisp than standard.