The Future Of Compact Cameras?

...take photos like a pro! By creating images with the same qualities of a high end SLR. Yeah, that's right. It would take a few new features (not necessarily a larger sensor!) and a little bit more digital memory to add to the design in order to achieve practically the identical images as those created by cameras that are far more expensive. So...how could we possible embark on such a technological endeavor? Well, first of all, the features that are included in today's cameras, at least all compact cameras that I have ever heard of, are features that people find most popular. There are, however, some very rare features, that a designer could implement. to change the world of cameras as we now know of it. And that would quite possibly bring about a really significant paradigm shift. Yes, you heard that right: paradigm shift! First of all, these features cannot even be found under Photoshop! Whether or not they would be really useful as opposed to just having an SLR camera sure is debatable (at least in my opinion). So how would such features work? These would work by the following:
A) Superresolution: Take four pictures, and they add up to twice the resolution using an advanced algorithm
B) Quantum film; this fairly new and upcoming idea allows digital sensors to behave more like they were film, giving images more gradual tonal transitions. This is when quantum dots of various colors are implicated into the sensor.
C) Increasing Dynamic Range. How does this work? You could thank an unusually low resolution, which would increase a camera's spatial resolution, then the actual amount of pixels which you require would be compensated for by Superresolution.
D) Pixel Sampling & Reducing Noise; Honestly, I can't say much about this myself, so here's some more info about how this process works in a 41 megapixel smartphone: http://www.cnet.com/news/the-secret-behind-n
Now, whether or not this is the same kind of process that goes on, there is yet another method that we could implement to help achieve better lowlight performance. That technique is what many photographers might already know about, since it is in the form of a script in GIMP, and probably other programs like Photoshop as well. We call this image averaging. It can reduce noise no matter how great, as long as you have enough memory space in the camera, as more images are required to achieve more amounts of noise reduction.
Now, there are probably other features that one could implement into a camera. One of them would be focus stacking. Only time can tell whether these changes will actually be implemented in future sensors. With large sensor cameras, we can practically only dream about achieving great macro photos like we could with a compact camera, which can have much better macro capabilities. With the various lenses that people use on their SLRs, they can't really get higher depth of field unless using a relatively expensive lens. With compact photography, however, we could decrease the costs, and we wouldn't always need to resort to the costly endeavor of SLR photography.