I'm not that keen on ultimate sharpness either, but what I absolutely love about the GR's lens is the overall rendering, the depth of the images, the definition. The X70 is probably fine as far as this goes - Fuji know how to build lenses that render pleasing images. That said, the GR's lens *is* sharp - the only "better" 28mm (or equivalent) lens I own is a Leica Elmarit-M 28mm f/2.8 (pre-ASPH) - and then only just; I'd say the GR is on par when it comes to the overall results, which is amazing, come to think of it (for the used price of the Elmarit-M, you could scoop up three GR IIs or five used GRs).
Fully with you on that (size and all) - in fact, the idea of a 28mm (or, for my poor soul, a 35mm) equivalent with f/2 or f/2.5|2.8 would hold enormous appeal for me. But I also like your idea of a slightly boosted version of the 12-32mm - very much so; in fact, if they made it f/2-f/4, manual zoom, and with superb wide-open performance (like the 12-32mm from f/4 onwards), I'd be really intrigued. Considering the target market a bit more realistically, I'd say a fixed f/2.8 would be a nice idea as well - such a lens could be slightly smaller than the present lens while being a bit more consistent in terms of sharpness; actually, it's how I shoot the LX100's lens most of the time (stopped down to f/2.8) to counter certain aberrations at the wide end.
I hardly ever use that feature - so that's probably the reason why I'd trade that kind of versatility for real estate. Considering what Canon has been able to do with the G1X III, the size penalty should be minimal, if at all needed - think of the GM5, with the 12-32mm, it was even smaller than the LX100! I'm not into more resolution per se, but I'd like to have more area for photon catching. Sometimes, I wish we'd get a new 12MP
sensor with the latest tech; I'd trade a bit of resolution for cleaner low-light images and better dynamic range. Specifically, a boost in shadow recoverability would be very welcome, comparatively speaking (it's where the APS-C sensors I also use really outshine the
ones). It would allow for better highlight protection as well ... In short, the first
sensor with BSI technology would certainly kindle my interest ...
M.
P.S. Forgot something: I'd really like to see a built-in ND filter - the GR has one, and the G1X III as well. Very handy, certainly enhances flexibility.