From the conclusion to the article:
As hinted above, the real answer to my 'Why can't we have a camera phone this good in 2015?' is that smartphones have all headed to the middle ground, the compromise, and that a manufacturer would say "If you're fussy enough to need all the above, just take along a proper camera - it'll do an even better job, as it'll have optical zoom and an even brighter flash!"
They're right, of course, that's the obvious solution for the shutterbug on a challenging day out. But am I totally alone to believe in true convergence, that I want my smartphone to completely replace a camera, no matter what the event or conditions? Nokia, with its 808 PureView and then Lumia 1020, managed to get two models out the door which almost perfectly matched this converged need, in 2012 and 2013. But nothing since, and we haven't even smelt a whiff of a Lumia 1030 or similar yet. And Samsung abandoned its "K" line after one model, the K Zoom, again in 2013, so there's nothing elsewhere in the phone world either.
Again, am I a voice crying out in the wilderness here? When someone asks YOU "Wow, where can I get a phone that has a camera like that?", wouldn't it be great to point them towards a shop where the brand new 1040 (or whatever) had just been released?
I do fear that any 1040 in development, with Xenon flash and large sensor again, may have been killed over the last 12 months with all the cuts at Microsoft. Satya (Nadella) and Terry (Myerson) - prove me wrong. Please!
Worth a read of the full article anyway, if you're a Xenon, CBD and AMOLED fan....! You can gloss over the use of a Windows Phone as the example if you wish, all the smartphone imaging points are still valid.
In many ways, the 808 PureView would have done better than the 1020 in the suggested summer fayre use case because of the faster shot to shot time - and my 808 stays fully charged on my desk. Next time out, I think I'll take that - and my SIM card - instead!