Well, I'd say that's somewhat true from what I've read. First, the basic camera on their website has an 8x optical zoom. And though it's technically not measured in megapixels since it stores the image in a completely new manner, it would be rated at approx. 22 megapixels by current standards. So at 8x zoom and 22 MP, and the ability to focus anywhere on the captured light, you could get pretty darn close to what a DSLR with about a 500 zoom lens. This may not suffice for actual photographers, but would work for the hobbyist quite well, and would guarantee never having a picture out of focus.
But definitely would love it in a phone. Not sure if this will be possible with the way it has to capture light, but I'd venture to guess they will figure it out someday.
You can zoom it 8x. Great. But optical zoom is a function of Fmax/Fmin, so if your shortest focal length is 28 or 35mm, your longest would be about 244 or 280mm, not 500mm
You can keep it in focus. Also great, up to a point - Lytro allows you to change the effective focus point of the image - at the point you select. However, the depth of field is a function of focal length and aperture. In other words, at an effective focal length of 280 (or especially 500mm), you're going to need really stop down the aperture to make the shot happen, and that's going to require a much longer shutter time for proper exposure.
But guess what? For low light performance and simpler design, they fixed the aperture at f/2. Do you know how much depth of field you're going to get at that aperture, fully zoomed? Somewhere between little and very little. So the focus point you choose will be in focus, but little else will be.
A DSLR's 500mm lens is 1) going to give you the aperture you need to get better depth of field (although still not perfect, because that's a really long lens), and 2) it's probably going to have the tripod mount you're going to need to hold steady for that shot! Because Lytro lets you change focus on the fly - it's not an image stabilizer.
Also, I'm not sure where you get an effective resolution of 22MP - I don't see it anywhere, but I'd stand corrected if you could tell me how to get to that number - what I've read is that they're shooting for "HD quality" in a square format. So, perhaps it captures 22MP worth of information, but you HAVE to process it through their software to get a JPG, and that will more likely be between 1 and 2 MP of picture output (as opposed to capture).
From Lytro's blog, they're targeting a minimum target output size of 1080x1080 (about 1MP):
How can I compare the resolution of the Lytro Camera to that of existing cameras? : Lytro
They both have their place, though, to be sure, but this camera does
not blow a DSLR out of the water by any stretch of the imagination. You're right about having this in a phone - that capability would rock!
