lower resolution, flash range, continuous shooting, things that are not so unimportant, especially the continuous shooting..
Yes they are unimportant to the P&S market....
* flash range is improved in the G11 over the G10. If your intention is flash photography then you should be shot if you are not taking advantage of the hotshoe).
* Mpixels are not so important once you get into the 10+ range. 99% of the photos are printed at 4x6, 5x7, 8x10.. 14mpixel is way overkill. If you start going into the typical "more resolution to crop" debate, you are now ignoring the fact that the smallish lenses on these P&S cameras will not resolve enough anyways. The market aim for these cameras are not photographers aiming to print poster sized pictures nor a significant amount of cropping.
* Lower pixel density usually translates to lower signal to noise ratio at the sensor. This translates to superior high ISO performance. High noise at even ISO 400 has been the biggest most annoying aspect of using P&S cameras....
* continuous shooting. G11 is faster than the G10. For the typical P&S photographer, continuous drive is not so important as the shutter lag. From what I can tell, the G11 improves on the G10 in this respect.
* G11 also brought back the swivel LCD screen. One of the features that set apart the G-series from all cameras was the integrated swivel rotating LCD paired with the optical viewfinder. This was the case from G1 through the G6.
If you apply the features that are important to DSLR users to that of the P&S market, you will fail to understand that the markets are different. The thorn of P&S shooters has always been IQ, high ISO performance, and shutter lag. I think the G11 improves on the G10 in these aspects. The issue here is that the typical consumer doesn't understand and simply look at the mpixel count as a measure in overall quality and performance. Simply put.. it is a marketing nightmare.
