It is unfortunately a fact of life that almost regardless of the resolution of the camera (i.e. the number of megapixels), the actual quality of the image produced relies almost entirely on the actual lens through which the light travels. It is also a fact of life that the lens on a phone is only about 25% of the diameter of a normal camera. So whilst most phones produce quite good pictures (quality-wise, not necessarily content-wise) there comes a point at which any increase in megapixels becomes a waste of time, because increasing the resolution cannot make up for the lack of lens size. The pictures posted here are fantastic, but even if they been taken on a phone with a much higher pixel count they would not, I think, have looked any better. Normal pictures are almost indistinguishable from high res pictures until you start to enlarge them to make posters etc, so the increase in megapixels comes down to a marketing ploy rather than a practical benefit to customers...bigger is not necessarily better!!. Add to that the fact that phones have no, or very limited, zoom capabilities, no motion stabilisation etc and it becomes clear that a proper camera is a better alternative if you want to take really excellent pictures. However phones are fine for happy snaps.
Cheers
Whizz
