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I actually think that the camera industry has been misleading people with the megapixel war for years now. They should have started advertising sensor sizes or pixels sizes instead of megapixel count. I feel like once we reached 5-6Mpix range, there was really no reason to go further up in megapixels, but rather enlarge the sensors. What they did was keep raising the megapixels count, but kept the sensor sizes pretty much the same...
The only one that I would even consider is the Sony RX100, but that is still $650 and its only a.. camera.. with phase 1 you are paying $500 for a proper smartphone and a proper camera. The P&S industry is done.. at least at their current price points.. it reminds of the current state of the PC industry.
The megapixel war was outright destructive, not merely a disservice. You are absolutely right, the pixel count for any P&S should have been capped at 6MP, and each generation should have worked on a cleaner, larger sensor and/or a faster lens - which is the current "in vogue" thing. At least the faster lenses are useful, as opposed to what they were doing - stuffing 16MP onto a sensor the size of half a postage stamp. The Fuji F31 was as good as it got for (P&S) high ISO shooting (which, in reality, wasn't all that good), and it still took the industry years before they even matched the F31 at anything above ISO 400 because of the insane MP war.
No cell phone shooter outside of a Nokia 808 should have anything above 4MP. Even that is probably too high. People have no real understanding why their pictures are so flat. Well, when you have pixel size so ridiculously small, you pay a real penalty - as in, either you have a blue(ish) sky and shadow areas that look black, or shadow areas that can be seen (albeit as a noisy mess), and a blown out, all white sky.
I loved the cell phone pundits who declared the Titan II at 16MP had "the best camera" due to the increased pixel count. I laughed, and then I cringed when I read what they had to say. 16MP on a 1/3" sensor?!? Oh my...Then I got sad when I realized the masses bought that tripe.
I am hopeful Nokia combines the 920 body with the 808 shooter (I'll live with the bulge), and I think I'm going to hold out for the second generation of WP8 phones. I'm happy enough with my Focus S for now.