Smartphones killed the compact and now they're coming for entry-level ILCs

When friends ask me to recommend a camera, more often than not they say they're looking to take better pictures than what they get from their phone. But what does "better than my phone" actually mean? One of those key differentiating factors has been the "pretty blurry background" effect that an interchangeable lens camera is capable of producing. Whether you know the word 'bokeh' or not, you know what a nice portrait looks like: sharp focus on the subject, a soft blurry background. And you know...