I used to express the same sentiment toward smartphones but gave in four or so years ago when my Motorola RAZR finally died. I spent quite a bit of time taking most apps off of it. A phone is really just for calls anyway..... right? Well no, texting, looking at the radar when showers are threatening during a bike ride and taking pictures of labels, and data plates on stuff that is in hard to eyeball positions is very useful.

If you do find a decent camera to take with you let me/us know. I'd be particularly interested in one that has an easy way to control things like f-stop (aperture), shutter speed and focus.

The ones I have, even the touch screen ones are cumbersome and require multiple swipes and taps to get to the place where one can change these things. Especially the aperture or the digital equivalent, lighting (not to be confused with flash) which I need frequently.