Originally Posted by
Biker395
I know this is heresy to say, but I've not found shooting in RAW all that useful. I do it on the off-chance there is a photo I really love that can only be saved with some manipulation in RAW. On the other hand, a compact camera offers true zooming (some at very long ranges), image stabilization, much faster lenses, exposure control, and a host of other things that a cellphone camera does not.
I guess it depends on how important the photos are to you and what you plan to use them for.
If I pull out the dSLR, it's set for RAW 95% of the time, and while I don't always attach great importance to every image I capture, I've found myself in situations where I did attach it and there wasn't any real control after the fact. So I just shoot RAW most of the time and I have those options available, and no I'm not a pro or semi pro photog...
Most lenses on smartphones are sub f/2.8 which is on par with most compacts, IS is becoming available (HTC OneX has both optical IS and a f/2.0 lens...) and although exposure control is not usually available in the typical fashion there are some controls available and heck, don't most people use dummy mode anyway lol! Optical zoom is about the only thing a compact has on a smartphone, except the Galaxy 4 Zoom if you want an unholy marriage in your back pocket!