Focus

This photograph was taken on my phone (while I was on a train on my way to Basildon to buy my new-to-me Alfa Romeo).  Anyway, to the point...

In the old days when we had mechanical, oiled-gear-driven cameras where focusing was with the left hand [and very tactile it was too] we could focus on what we wanted, and very quickly.  With a digital camera focusing is all done for you and software decides on how it happens.  Yes, you can with a DSLR switch to manual focus or control the focus 'zones' and they use algorithms to decide what happens... but hey, it's a slow, non-tactile experience.  Slow. 

As an aside, are there any DSLR lenses with tactile-feedback manual focusing? 

Anyway, back to this picture. 

This was photographed out of the window of a moving train, and it was raining.  I wanted to focus on the buildiongs and the camera seems to have known this.  How?  The camera has a wide angle lens so ought to be focusing on close images.  So how does it work?  What would a DSLR have done?

OK, this is not really about this picture or about phone cameras... it is about DSLRs that take the art of focusing away from you. 

I think that focusing is a fundamental problem with auto-focus cameras (yes, it's not really a DSLR-exclusive issue).  Manual focusing is not a pleasant experience - because the lenses are so poor.  Ok maybe not poor (they focus OK) but because it feels so much like stirring tea.  There's no feedback.  Does anyone do it?  I don't.  But I miss it. 

It is one of the reasons I occasionally get my F3 out of the drawer and have a play.  It is a weighted, oiled, made-of metal machine.  It feels so much more tactile and beautiful that my 20D.  Absolutely no comparison.  It is small and light (ish) but most importantly, it demands creative input. 

What is the DSLR equivalent?