[gwill]

Would you mind answering those questions? I love photography and when looking over a camera can get an idea around strengths/weaknesses. This seems like they wanted to cheap out on construction with fewer physical controls and still be able to advertise as a compact FF camera despite having a low MP sensor.

[0_____0]

I think primarily it's targeting a user segment that's sort of distinct. The mainly younger folks who carry a camera very often or daily, for whom it's not just a hobby but also something that's fashionable. They do care about image quality, but also care about form factor and the looks of the thing, which is a distinct need vs. pro or typical prosumer users (DSLR dads, I lovingly call them).

Dropping the physical controls doesn't really save a ton of money. They went for a unibody chassis, which itself is a bit of an expensive way to make a production component (see their very nice staged dry-run toolpath simulation on a 5-axis CNC machine).

I do think they wanted something extremely compact for what it is (hence no viewfinder), without a bunch of stuff sticking off of it. Something that people who design EDC objects think about - will this snag on things?