At the rate that serious camera makers are 'innovating'(if that's an appropriate term to use ) .. smart phones will eventually overtake all the serious camera devices capabilities ... combined.

It won't happen soon, and it may not happen in our lifetimes, but I seriously think it may eventually happen (unless of course the serious camera makers start pushing features boundaries).

Features can be anything.. not just specific to yours or my needs(when or if they arise).
Eg. the astro centric not really raw raw file from our Nikon's as one example.

Without the ability to value add what Camera maker A perceives their product to have the capacity to do .. is (in effect) limiting it's ability.

I posted something similar in another thread, but the way our generations are heading, the so called ILC camera may well be a completely obsolete device within only a generation.

Thom Hogan talks about a camera's ability to be programmed. He may well be on a totally different tangent to my thoughts on the topic, but having played with and enjoyed playing with my daughter's little Galaxy Camera, the fun factor overwhelms the camera's inherent weakness(mainly in that the IQ is pretty ordinary when compared to a proper camera/lens combo.

But the difference is(between the camera/lens combo and the Galaxy Cam device .. is the OS(or firmware).

Our current generations have a set level of expectations, and interest in possible alternative operating systems our devices are capable of.

Some are into the possible alternatives .. others not.
A parallel is one of Canon's stock firmware vs the Magic Lantern alternative.
Some are into it, others are not.
Most likely, with the older generations and current generations eg. Babyboomers/Gen X /Gen Y's .. which generation you belong too will determine whether you are an alternative seeker, or a don't carer
Some are simple technophobes others are inherently tinkerers.

But as the next generation(s) start to develop, the major difference with this newly forming group is that their lives will be entrenched in the entire tech/IT/gadget environment.

You see this everywhere with iPad doodads for 2 year olds to play with.
I mean seriously what ever happened to the good old rattler toy .. or teething ring .. I remember kids of that age loved these devices.
Now tho, it appears that iPads are the new rattlers and teething rings(man, I hope those things contain safe levels of poisonous materials! )

The point is that these newer generations will come to expect their devices will just have the ability to just do what they want it too.

If their newest smartphone can do HDR raw images .. why the hell can't these big heavy cumbersome mirrorless cameras!

Try telling your DSLR or mirrorless camera to take the photo for you! You can't.
But using no hands and no programming, nor any other devices gadgets connections or smoke and mirrors, I can tell the little Galaxy Camera to shoot .. and it will.
I can't remember all the commands it does, but does some others too. Easy. Why .. because some geeky person realised that the OS already has voice command, so why not use it for the camera.

Hardware will eventually catch up. I still think we have a lot more Mp to go before we see an actual end to the increasing numbers of these things. Even tho we all know 'we don't need more' .. the reality is most folksies do want them.

Me! ? ... gimme a D800 any day!! .. And now watch as the latest 50Mp Canon 'sells like pancakes'(within the Canon circle of friends). Do they need them!... hell yeah they do.

Smartphones(as cameras) .. what can they do to make them better(or as Swifty asked how can they be improved)?
I reckon (more so than not) .. just keep doing what they're doing! They're getting better every generation.
But with a few caveats tho.(I'll come back too in a moment).

In terms of hardware ... it's a given that the latest and greatest innovations will be in the smartphone sector .. As already said liquid lenses that allow zooming raw files are already here, HDR is already here, panorama creation is already here .. etc, etc.
In camera post processing is already here(if you want it). It will only improve with each generation.
It won't be long before your smartphone (as a camera) will not only be your camera, but your entire workflow too.

No serious camera(with the exception of the galaxy camera and I think one compact Nikon Android camera too) can do this post processing .. with any level of seriousness that is.

Ie. I can load up Lr's mobile version of whatever PS or LR or whatever) and shoot and process the images from the Galaxy Camera using only the galaxy camera.
People used to speak highly of Lr's ability to batch process easily as tho it was some neat trick.
This process is going to seem prehistoric compared to a potential ability to shoot and batch process at the same time on the one device .. or in real time.

It's a matter of who is going to make the software work in this manner(if it doesn't already).

Which camera maker is going to be the first to pull the trigger that gives any serious camera the option to do this if the user wants too.
(I'm hoping it's Nikon, but not holding my breath).

I have to say, while it's a bit of fun(and we've had a laugh with it(with my daughter) .. I'm still pretty much old fashioned when it comes to the process of images from capture to final presentation.
And this is also whilst at the same time an technophillic geeky dork too!

I even turned my once luddite brother into a smartphone hacking geek too. He has my old Galaxy SII(because he smashed his old one) and wanted some new uber cool feature, so he sourced a much later(KitKat) firmware for it.
Works fine, does the job .. one strange behaviour which he says he can live with but here's a small sample of generation X morphing into a more demanding user.

I'm similar to a degree in that I can be a more demanding user, but my demands are a bit more tempered. If possible I'll look for an alternative(which I do and have and trialled)

And back onto the topic of how smartphones can be bettered. Don't restrict them. Don't force us into corners! We probably going to rebel .. or look to hack our devices, possibly risking warranty!
It doesn't work .. it's retarded and backward thinking. People will eventually update! It just won't be every new device that comes to market.
make them cheaper. We know you're making squillions off these devices(Apple .. we're looking at you here ). A $10 device shouldn't sell for $800!

Android makers .. take note! We don't want to be locked out of our much loved and used external memory cards.
Doing so is a retarded measure. It just means that more folks will do the hack to get around this profit seeking practice.
yeah .. Android KitKat doesn't allow you to write to your micro SD card any longer from within the device itself. The retarded part is that you can write to it if you connect it to a PC .. via the PC. Great sucurity measure that one ..
The hack to undo this idiotic step is easy, but you have to hack the phone to give yourself root(admin) access.
If you're going to give us raw file capability does it make sense to then restrict the ability to store those raw files if you want more than about 10 of them.

Simply because of sheer greed, at least one company has lost my tablet updating dollars this year .. and maybe next year too, all because I now can't use any tablet's sd card without hacking it.
I would have liked a better screen .. maybe 8" instead of 7 .. higher res would have been nice.. faster multicore processing, for faster operation would have been nice too. I use this table every day.. updating it was inevitable. Now that's more money in my pocket .. less in theirs.
The more that this sort of behaviour goes on .. the more that a generation born into technology .. growing up on it .. chewing it(if it's still safe to do so) .. shaking it to pieces to see what comes out of .. will shun it. They'll look to older tech, or alternative or obscure tech.. probably from Kickstarter or something.
The almighty Kodak fell, the mighty Nokia fell too none of these currently massive companies are immune to failing too.


Again .. how to make smart phones better .. simples! ... don't make them any worse.