Is a smartphone as a good as a regular point-and-shoot compact camera? Apart from not having a zoom, it almost certainly is.
There's nothing wrong with the cameras in smartphones. The best smartphones have really good cameras built onto, even if they don't have quite the same impressive amount megapixels as dedicated digital cameras.
The thing to remember though is that it's not all about the amount of megapixels you have – a smartphone with a 8MP camera or above is all you need to produce sharp, detailed shots for Facebook and Twitter, while you can even produce moderately-sized, decent quality prints to hang on your wall if you get a shot you really love.
Take the iPhone 7, for example, with its 12MP camera and easy to use controls, it can produce shots every bit as good (better, often) as a regular point and shoot compact camera.
This is also the camera you'll probably have with you all the time, and the one you'll rely on for capturing your life as it happens, with these photos often ending up as the pictures you will value most in the years to come.
Pros: It's the camera you always have to hand, the results can match those from a regular point-and-shoot compact camera, you can share instantly to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, you can get apps with amazing effects and additional tools and they can be easy to use.
Cons: In most cases you get a fixed focal length lens – you can't zoom in on distant subjects; the fixed lens is often a wide-angle - great for selfies and getting loads in the frame, but not for flattering portraits; smartphones aren't so easy to hold; limited control over shooting settings.
