HTC One review

HTC One review

introduction and design

After months on sale, the HTC One is still our top pick of the smartphones available at the moment - and with all new software, it's now even better.
While it may not have been borne out in sales, the One is definitely the phone that the likes of Samsung and Apple have been aspiring to.
It's got a full HD screen crammed into 4.7-inches, which brings a 468ppi – well above what's needed for the eye to discern, and it does definitely bring sumptuous sharpness throughout the use of the phone.
On top of that there's a good CPU and RAM combo, a more-than-enough 32GB of storage and top-end Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and 3G / 4G connections, all topped off by a completely re-imagined version of HTC Sense. What's not to like?

It's at the sharp end of the smartphone price scale, although can be had for around £34 per month on a two year deal in the UK, which isn't too bad at all compared to the competition. On a SIM free deal, it's still not too bad: £480 for the phone without having to monkey about with a network.
Given the One is now nearly a year on sale, the price is a little high for our tastes - there are better specified, if not designed, phones on the market, and be warned that its successor is likely to drop in the next few months.
The design of the HTC One is something that you simply have to experience in the hand though. Where those that pick up the Samsung Galaxy S4 will go ' Oh, it's a bit plastic, isn't it? But ooh, it's quite light' and those who encounter the iPhone 5S will, to a person, say 'Ooh, it's very light isn't it? You don't expect it to be that light!' those that try the HTC One will simply intone: 'Oh, that's really nice. Really, really nice.'

And do you know why? Simple: the HTC One is one of the best-designed phones on the planet. Not content with inventing a new machining process to allow the body to be all aluminium, the Taiwanese firm has extended the screen to the edges of the chassis further than ever before, meaning you're getting a 4.7-inch Full HD display without the additional heft you'd probably expect.
It's even thinner than its predecessor, the HTC One X (we know, that naming strategy leaves a lot to be desired) and as such slides nicely in the pocket.
It's not light either, weighing more than most of the competition, but rather than feeling overweight, combined with the metallic chassis is oozes a premium build. Samsung is probably hoping not a lot of people hold this phone side-by-side with the Galaxy S4 as otherwise the buying choice is going to be a lot more of a worry for the Koreans.

On top of that, there's a whole host of little design wins that delight when you first try the HTC One. For instance, the machined holes that allow sound toe emanate from the dual front-facing speakers (can you say BOOMSOUND?) looks amazing, and the lines on the back of the phone give a nice textured movement to things, helping to break up the constant greyness of the aluminium.
You could argue that straight on it looks far too much like either an iPhone 5, with its chamfered edges, or a BlackBerry Z10 front on, and you'd have a good point as this phone doesn't reinvent the rectangle-with-rounded-edges formula that we're so used to, but in the hand the curved back brings a whole new dimension to things.

There's a zero-gap construction at work here as well, which means that you won't find any gaping distance, holes or light leakages to make you feel like you've not spent your hard-earned cash on something wonderful.

The volume control on the right-hand side of the phone is in the same dazzling metal, and contrasts nicely with the rubber/plastic that makes up the sides. Our sample actually showed a fair amount of wiggle in this area, and slightly detracted from the overall premium feel. However, later models have deleted this problem, so chances are you won't notice it either.
The power button resides on the top, and doubles as the infra-red blaster - however, this is one of the poorer points as it doesn't have a whole lot of travel.

Similarly, the placement of this button, even on a phone that's been shrunk down while accommodating a larger screen, is still a bit inconvenient. We had to shuffle the phone around in the palm to turn it on and off on many occasions, and a lot of the time we couldn't use our thumb to hit the whole of the screen without jiggling the phone up and down.
That's another problem with the design: it's pretty slippery thanks to the metallic chassis. We thankfully only ever suffered two serious drops when we were about a foot off the carpet (basically scrabbling for it to turn off the alarm in the morning) and a more alarming one stepping out of a cab, but there have been a few near misses when trying to manoeuvre around the screen.
If only that power button was on the side (as it is on the HTC One Max), or a physical home button unlocked the phone, this whole issue would be negated for a large part.

But as we mentioned, HTC has wandered away from the physical buttons - where once it put a trackpad in the Nexus One, now it's stripped the capacitive buttons down from three to two, with the multi-tasking option going the way of the dodo. You can still get the same functionality by double tapping the home button, but it's not the same.
Overall though, you can guess we're impressed with the construction and design of the HTC One. We're not even looking at final hardware here - although we appear to have got lucky with our sample, as there are few design flaws in sight - so the chances of metallic chipping ('because that's just what it does....' OK, Apple) are slight to say the least - providing you don't fling it on tarmac. Seriously, we tried that... don't do it.

We thought we'd scuffed it so many times during our test, but each time it was simply a slight amount of dirt or dust that wiped right off. Tick from TechRadar on the design front, HTC.

Interface

The HTC One is set to get the Android 4.4 KitKat update in the next month - so stay tuned for our updated review with the new software.

HTC has been hard at work redesigning Sense once more, and the HTC One is the first phone to bear the fruits of that labour. Sense 5 (as it's colloquially, if not officially, called) is another step forward in the Android overlay story, but we think this is the biggest yet from HTC.
It's also been upgraded to Sense 5.5 with the launch of Android 4.3 on the One, which brings a huge set of new functionality once more.

We're talking a whole new button layout, a new grid for the menu icons, geometric patterns replacing the over-complicated widgets of old; in short, it's simple, stark and we really like it.
HTC One review

There's no doubt that it's still a little heavy on the old processor - a quick trip to the battery usage settings will confirm that - but what HTC has done is bring the notion of Android 4.3 to a wider audience by, well, making it less Android-y.
The option to add widgets and such has been brushed to the side to some degree, with BlinkFeed taking centre stage (and you can read our bigger rundown of BlinkFeed on its own, separate, section).

Instead of the home button taking you to your collection of homescreens, BlinkFeed will pop up, in all its Windows Phone-like glory by default.

With the Android 4.3 update you can finally change the home screen to the one you want - perfect for when you don't want to look at the dizzying list of live tiles, but it can cause you to forget Blinkfeed is there at times.

However if you are using Blinkfeed as the default home action it only takes a swipe to the right to access the homescreens as you know them from Android of old, although you get a miserly five home screens to customise.

And customising them isn't easy - you either have to long press on the home screen and choose the apps that way, or drag them from the menu via the shortcut icon at the top. More convoluted than on other Android phones, that's for sure.

But enough of that - how does the interface work under the finger? In short, blazingly well, as you'd expect from a phone rocking a quad-core 1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor. Add to that 2GB of RAM and you've got more than enough grunt. It's bettered by a good few devices on the market now, (the LG G2 wipes the floor with it) but it still does enough to zip by.
From opening and closing apps to browsing multiple tabs on the internet, there's nothing that can slow down the HTC One, and you'll really appreciate that in day to day life.

You can also choose from a number of lockscreen types, be it productivity for emails, calendar entries or messages - and a swipe upwards while holding said missive will launch it directly too.
It's a little sad that we've lost the HTC ring that we grew to love so quickly, but the geometric simplicity of Sense 5 is enough to calm the urges to run back to a Sensation.
You can select a range of pictures to wander past your eyes, have some tunes on offer or simply have no lockscreen at all if you're convinced nobody is in there trying to get at all your precious smartphone data stored on the HTC One - and we're fans of the latter, as lockscreens are annoying if you have no need for them.

Once you're in and past BlinkFeed you can select whether to stick with the frankly under-selling 3x4 grid of apps ('People now want simplicity in an Android phone' say HTC rather unconvincingly.) If you want to have the right amount of apps, edit that instantly to show 20 on the screen at once, and you can order them in a number of ways too.
Widgets aren't locked away in the menu like on many other Android phones either, as all it takes is a long-press on any home screen and you're greeted with all the widgets on offer - which is admittedly rather few.

The dock at the bottom of the phone pervades through the homescreen and menu options, which means you can always launch the camera or internet browser from anywhere on the main screens - you can customise this with a long press, so if you only want the entire range of Angry Birds games at your fingertips, you can make that happen.
It's not obvious how this works if you want to change it - you'll have to be in the apps menu to do so. While you're there, you can also hide apps too, which is neat if you're stuck with a phone rammed with bloatware.
Compared to something like the Samsung Galaxy S4 the HTC One is a little under-powered when it comes to the interface, but where Samsung is all about the functionality HTC is about style and minimalism.

However, with the 4.2 update you can pull down with two fingers and get access to said settings, as per the update from Google. It does take a few goes to remember that this is the way to get to settings, but it's a nice touch.
And with Android 4.3, you get even more choice, such as the Do Not Disturb icon that lets you decide when you want people to contact you.
The alarm clock is now more powerful too - sadly not with better ringtones, but in that if the phone is turned off the alarm will still trigger but then turn right back off when you slam your fist onto it to make the morning go away.
You can also now add widgets to the lock screen thanks to the Android 4.3 update - it's not something you'll use often as the scroll to the right to find them isn't intuitive, but if you need a quick calculator or similar it's useful. We wish flashlight was an option here.

The interface on the HTC One is simple - really simple. It doesn't have a huge amount of peeking to see messages (BlackBerry, take note) nor does it do much more than telling you the time or the weather.
But it does all this in a way that makes you feel like you're never missing anything and getting a stylish experience to boot that isn't like anything else on the market.
The closest we can equate it to is the LG Prada 3.0 phone's interface - and given that was designed by a fashion house, we'll call that pretty high praise indeed, if we don't say so ourselves.

Camera

A big change on the HTC One is the camera: it's 'only' a 4MP sensor. It should be put into context though: the camera has a smaller sensor but much larger pixels to allow in more light, and therefore more data, to make your pictures look that much better on the go.
The Ultrapixel method is one to be applauded, as it's pushing back on the 13MP image sensors that are being crammed into ever-thinner phones these days. HTC has published a blog detailing how this process was conceived, if you're after a bit more Ultrapixel info directly from the horse's mouth.
But what does that mean in reality? Well, you're getting a faster sensor for one thing, and that means you can take more snaps on the go. In fact, it's so fast that we didn't notice that it had fired on the odd occasion, although at other times it would have a bit of a think before saving your picture.

The same range of HTC gizmos are on offer here as seen in the HTC One X - so you can alter the ISO levels, change exposure, contrast and sharpness and also enable HDR mode through the onscreen menu.
With Android 4.3 you can change the orientation of the panorama camera, so like the iPhone you can take the wider pics in landscape as well as portrait - it's a nice touch and the interface is really simple to keep you in line.

HTC clearly wants you to use the front facing camera too - it's been given a spec bump to 2.1MP, making it close in power to the rear of the phone (without all the Ultrapixel jiggery-pokery) and as such takes great snaps.
You simply slide your finger up and down the screen to jump between the two cameras as well as enabling the countdown timer if you so wish - it's not a strongly advertised feature, but when you find it, it's really impressive.
The interface for the camera isn't the easiest to use at times, simply thanks to the fact the buttons to hit are so small and there's a great deal of scrolling to alter the effects. There's no intelligent shot mode like that found on the Sony Xperia Z1 and LG G2, but it doesn't matter in many situations.

But if you want to fire the text mode (which alters the contrast of the picture) or get a little closer up to stuff using macro, you'll have to scoot through a few menu options.
It's also annoying that you can't use HDR (high dynamic range, where multiple exposures are captured of the same photo and stitched together) mode when shootings Zoes (more on that in a separate section) as this really improves the pictures no end.
Given you can use video HDR mode as well on the HTC One, we're not sure why it's not an option. HDR is a much better option than it used to be on older HTC phones, as it can manage to process in no time at all now. In fact, we wish it could be enabled by default rather than having to switch it on each time.
So onto the good stuff: is the HTC One camera actually any good given the bold move made on the camera front? The simple answer is yes, photos taken in a variety of scenes look pretty darn nice.

There's a lot of noise thanks to the lower pixel count at times, but the range of light levels you get to shoot in compared to other camera phones is excellent. We were surprised how trigger happy the flash was in auto mode given this ability. The HTC One DESTROYS the Galaxy S3 at low-light ability, as you'll see in the photos below.
It's a bit closer now the competition has caught up - the Galaxy S4, LG G2 and iPhone 5S all excel in this area too, plus the Nokia Lumia 1020 is in a league of its own when it comes to cameraphone-ability.
How does the HTC One fare in our ultimate cameraphone test?
And the photos we took looked stunning at times on the phone screen, which HTC says is where most of them stay - which we agree with to a degree. However, on the computer screen things are oddly different, with higher exposure and some loss of detail.
You probably won't look at many photos this way, but if you're thinking of uploading them to Facebook, you probably will get some people checking out your efforts at a larger size.
We've noted some criticism of the HTC Ultrapixel system already, and yes, if you really care about photos on the go, working hard on scene composition all the time and fiddling with the exposure chances are you won't want this phone. Ultrapixels work well enough, but there's definitely a lot more to come from the technology.

Another 'failing' some perceive for the HTC One is that, by default, the phone shoots in 16:9 size, rather than the traditional 4:3. Well, again, if the photos are only ever going to be viewed on the screen on on a social networking site, then it makes sense that they should fill the display. We know there are many good reasons to have photos in the 4:3 format, but the user base of the HTC One is less likely to be bothered by those.
However, for most people they'll be overjoyed with the photo quality on the HTC One. The combination of fast shooting, accurate focus, sharp continuous shooting and a nippy HDR mode, combined with photos that look good on the phone screen, will impress many.
And let's be honest, that's the reason we buy a phone with a camera on it, right?

Maps and Apps

HTC has finally bitten the bullet with the One and lost the HTC mapping software that bloated things so badly before. It's also dispensed with the services of Footprints too, which were cool in their own way (being able to give an account of places you've been pictorially) but were rarely used.
Instead, it's all about Google Maps here, and what a stunning experience it is. We won't go into huge detail on how the program works, as it's a delight for you to find, but there are a number of ways that the HTC One really uses its power to bring Google Maps into the light.

For starters, over Wi-Fi and 4G (and even decent 3G) the speed with which it can locate you and load up your surrounding area is impressive - and if you're in one of the larger cities you'll get 3D models of the buildings too.
A simple two finger swipe will change the perspective so you can see exactly what you're walking through when you're in a new city (with the ability to save maps offline too) and the HTC barely breaks sweat to bring you these mountainous images.
Then there's the sat-nav software - it's excellent, but you'll need to make sure you've got a decent data plan and a car charger handy, as it sucks both bytes and power down in a heartbeat as it brings live traffic information and route information.

But the bright and large screen of the HTC one makes the handset and excellent choice for dashboard mounting and ditching the TomTom.
So if you're looking at the HTC One as dedicated sat-nav, we can't recommend it highly enough - plus the car mode is one of the best out there, with large buttons, instant-on music and good voice transcription all part of the dedicated interface.

Apps

The HTC One comes with a host of extras to make it into a more fully-fledged phone, and of course you can supplement these with more from the bulging Google Play store. However, we'll take you through a few of the key ones on offer here.
Kid mode is one of the big changes from HTC, with the option to set the phone up with programs the kids will like without giving them the keys to buy stuff from the internet or send a picture of poo to your boss. The main interface is pre-loaded with a load of mind-numbing games and activities (can you tell we don't have kids?) but they all seem beautifully colourful and probably contain some educational message.

You can them add to this by choosing apps you've selected live in there as well, such as Google Maps so they can learn where Scotland is. It's not the simplest interface to learn, but then again, kids are managing to jailbreak iPads these days, so we're probably worried about nothing.
The only annoying thing is you have to enable Kid Mode, where on Windows Phone the service is accessible from the lock screen, which saves you from a child with sticky fingers nabbing your phone.
Evernote integration is also on offer from the HTC One, with the Notes function allowing you to sign into the service. You can also record voice and notes at the same time and see where the match up afterwards - this is an invaluable tool if you're big on transcription, although you'll have to hope you get pretty accurate with that onscreen keyboard.

Polaris office is on offer and will allow you to view and edit a whole host of document types. It's an irritating app in that when you download a PDF it won't let you read it - but then when you try to open it with Adobe Acrobat (which you have to download) you're presented with an option to open in Polaris, and it does it better than Adobe. Grrrr.
Beyond that, we're into the same territory as before, with the handy flashlight locked deep away in the menu, so make sure you turn it into an app shortcut if you live in darkness or like poking through stuff quietly.
The alarm on the phone is a bit poor, as the choice of ringtones is limited and none of them really scream 'let's wake you up softly', rather scaring you into consciousness. Compare that to the Samsung Galaxy range, which has pre-alarms and fairy mist or some odd business to wake you up with, or the LG Optimuseseses which make you type in a code to prove you're awake, and we think HTC has been a bit lazy here.

We know we're being a bit over the top with the criticism, but given most people now rely on their phone to wake them up in the morning, this is something that really can't be overlooked. Thankfully, again, there are loads of options on the Play Store to sort you out.

And finally, the HTC Weather widget. How we love you. How very, very much. While Sense 5 has stripped away the temperature graph of old (boooo) and replaced it with a list of temperatures for each hour, it's still light years ahead of the competition, which push you onto a mobile site to just see how cold or hot it's going to be later that day. Again, a small feature, but again, a key one for a lot of people.

Verdict

Well, here we are - if you've skipped the whole of this review just to see what we thought, shame on you. Go back and read it properly. Have you done that? Good. Now read on, safe in the knowledge you didn't miss that bit about how to get free adult film downloads.
The HTC One is the phone that NEEDS to relaunch the ailing Taiwanese firm, and as such it's gone all out on the design. TechRadar spent some time with HTC's designers of many different sections of the handset, and you can see the passion that flows through the One from top to bottom.
Its combination of innovation and sumptuous hardware is a testament to the brand, and shows that new things can still come to our smartphones without costing the earth. Sure, it's not a cheap handset by any means, but it's perfectly in line with what we'd expect from a flagship.

we liked

The HTC One is the best phone the firm has made without doubt. It's got the wow-factor that made us fall in love with the HTC Desire, and manages to bring Sense back to a level that shows off the best of Android, rather than obfuscating it. There are those who pine for stock Android Jelly Bean, but earlier Android updates aside, we happen to think that Sense is better.
The camera is a great addition for on the spot shooting - if you want to take the photos and blow them up somewhere, it's not the phone for you, but if you want to be able to snap your friends in pubs without it being a blurry, dark mess, the HTC One comes into its own.
BoomSound and HTC Zoe are both really nice additions to the handset - the former makes the sound quality really sparkle and gives the option of recording louder noises without needing to worry about distortion, which is a really key capability.
We like the video highlight reels and the moving pictures of the HTC Zoe, and can see a number of people really starting to use them in day to day life. Some won't, and for them there's still a very competent camera on offer.

We disliked

The battery life issue has been negated, although it's not gone away totally. But many will only use HTC Zoe and the highlight reels at the weekend, and in doing so will remove some of the big battery draining daily problems with the phone.
Our only real gripe is with storage: many will argue that expandable memory slots are unnecessary when you've got Dropbox onboard for extra space, or just being organised and deleting unwanted content will solve the problem. That's true to a degree, but it's not common behaviour for today's smartphone user.
Bringing the phone out in a 32GB flavour from the off does help though - just be warned that you'll need to be organised with your photos on the phone, which isn't helped by a confusing gallery system.
Also, the alarm needs to be better. Come on, it's a key part of the phone HTC… put some effort in.

Final verdict

As we said, this is the best HTC phone ever, without a doubt. But we'll go one better than that: it's the best phone on the market full stop. The Samsung Galaxy S4 isn't far behind at all with its stunning screen and rich detail, but for sheer level of functionality, innovation and just overall effect it has in the hand, we can't help but recommend the HTC One to anyone looking to buy a new smartphone.
If you prefer raw power over style, the LG G2 is a better bet. But that's got a cluttered UI and plastic design, where the One is just the best mix around even with the older hardware.
So whether it's the Ultrapixel camera that extends the range of photos you can take, or the moving photos on offer, or simply the improved speakers bolted on the front (as long as you don't play them on public transport) the HTC One takes the best the smartphone market has to offer and just makes it better.
The Galaxy S4 is sleeker, the iPhone 5S is, well, Apple-ier, and the Nexus 5 is cheaper. But for the overall package of smartphone design and functionality, the HTC One stands head and shoulders above the rest.

Read More

Best camera phone: 6 handsets tested

What's the top cameraphone on the market?

We're dramatically overhauling our cameraphones test in the near future to help you understand which the best snapper on the market is - so stay tuned to find out what we think about the Sony Xperia Z1, iPhone 5S, LG G2, Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom and Nokia Lumia 1020.

A decade ago, new fangled gizmos called 'camera phones' started emerging. Pretty soon there became too many to rate alongside 'proper' cameras, and in any event back then the grainy, smudged 640 x 480 pixels shots from phones were pretty dire. You might as well have photocopied your backside.

Now, the quality of cameras (or rather sensors) in phones has massively improved, to the extent that the average non-photo enthusiast is now asking whether these may replace their dedicated compact camera. And if so, which phone should they buy, in terms of which is best for photography?

But while your handset might be OK for daily snaps, is it good enough to act as your one and only device with which to record those key moments in life?

Often, what you gain in convenience by using a smartphone for taking pictures, you subsequently lose in image quality. One obvious difference between today's compact cameras and smartphones is that even the most basic pocket camera has an optical zoom lens that projects from and retracts into the body. But smartphones still make do with just digital zooms.

Digital zooms effectively just crop the picture, progressively losing pixels the further you 'zoom' in - and certainly this is an Achilles' heel that camera manufacturers are looking to exploit in their favour.

But at the same time, camera brands have been increasingly adopting smartphone-like app menus and internet connectivity to bring the two devices closer together, with Samsung's Galaxy Camera being one of the first and most fully realised examples of this convergence of technology to hit the street.

So compact cameras are seeking to be more like phones, and many smartphones are trying to be more camera-like in their advancing shooting capabilities.

Let's take a look at the best camera phones available now (a group test we'll be constantly updating), to help you decide which one is best for you and your photographic needs. Here we compare our favourite phones for taking photos, arranged by current market price, with sample images to show the sorts of photos they're capable of producing.

Can any of these top camera phones convince you to ditch your compact camera?

Sony Xperia Z

Price: £480/US$550/AU$550
Spec: 13MP Exmor R sensor, 5-inch display, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, HDMI, microSD card slot

Unlike its direct rivals, Sony has as much expertise in producing cameras as it does the sensors that go in them, so its phones were always going to stand out from the crowd in terms of their cameras.

The Sony Xperia Z's camera gives us 13 megapixel maximum resolution shots from an Exmor R low light sensor, as found in Sony's Cyber-Shot digital compacts and DSLRs. This is up from the 12MP of the older Sony Xperia S.

As expected, the camera part of the handset has an automatic focus and offers a built-in flash. There's also a front-facing two megapixel camera for those self-portraits too, up from a previous 1.3 megapixels, but that's probably not going to offer you your finest photographic hour.

Travelling types are now also able to geotag their images via a built-in GPS facility that can be activated or deactivated as desired.

The positioning of the camera at the very top of the backplate and slightly left of centre, if the handset is held upright in your palm, means that shooting portrait orientation is easier with this one than turning it on its side to shoot in landscape format. If you do attempt the latter, fingertips can inadvertently stray in front of the lens.

Naturally, this being a phone, there is no optical zoom. Instead we get the image degrading digital zoom, here of the 16x variety, that crops the image to give the illusion that you've zoomed in. Zooming in or out is via a physical switch located next to the phone's power button, whereas taking photos or videos is now via a virtual on-screen shutter/record button.

But there are many other tricks carried over from Sony's Cyber-Shot compact cameras that are properly useful and worth having. As on the Sony Xperia S, we again get Sony's Sweep Panorama function that automatically stitches together a sequence of shots into one elongated image as you pan through any given scene - with the results pleasingly successful in terms of seamlessness.

High Dynamic Range (HDR) is also provided, which means that formerly tricky exposures such as a dark foreground and bright background - where you would either lose detail in the shadows or in the highlights as the camera metered on one or the other - are a thing of the past.

The HDR feature is provided for both 1080p HD video and stills, though you can sometimes be left with a rather flat or unreal-looking image as the camera tries to come up with a best of both worlds solution.

Those of us used to shooting with Sony's palm sized Cyber-Shot cameras will generally find much familiar here. As well as the above features we additionally get face detection, geo-tagging of images and built-in image stabilisation - which is handy, since a case of the shakes and resultant blurred images is always a possibility with a handset this shiny and slender.

We also get app-like picture effects, or digital filters in photographic speak. Automatic scene detection, smile detection and automatic image enhancing Superior Auto mode additionally feature, as in your camera proper.

Touch Focus, whereby you direct focus to a particular subject by tapping where it appears on the screen, which subsequently takes a shot, is another feature brought across from the camera world, and adds to the intuitive feel.

In full, the shooting modes comprise Superior Auto, Normal Auto, Front camera, picture effect (built-in digital filters), scene selection (pre-optimised settings for common subjects) and Sweep Panorama - so the sort of lineup you'll get from a regular Sony Cyber-Shot snapshot camera.

Add in object tracking autofocus alongside regular AF, and this is one of the most comprehensive camera options we've found on a smartphone. Sony is obviously showing off its imaging expertise.

While for low light shooting without flash we're provided with a range stretching from ISO 100 to ISO 1600 (ISO 800 and ISO 1600 being progressively noisy), the fact remains that the actual lens element of the Sony Xperia Z is tiny even compared to a cheap point and shoot digital camera, though you will pay a slight premium for one that is water-resistant and dust-proof with it.

A real bonus this time around, though, is that the camera's internal 16GB flash memory - half that of the Sony Xperia S, curiously - can be expanded with the addition of a removable microSD card of up to 32GB, the flash memory of choice for the modern smartphone.

We'd rather have been using one of Sony's actual Cyber-Shot cameras - such as the Sony RX100 - for a much better all-round performance, but if you're stuck with just your handset, the Sony Xperia Z is one of the better fallbacks when it comes to imaging.

Sony's expertise in this area once again shows, with results from the Xperia Z being consistent from shot to shot in terms of colour, exposure and white balance. Just what you want from a device with which you're going to be pointing and shooting.

However for our money the automatic results from the HTC One hold detail better from shot to shot, while those from the Samsung Galaxy S4 offer more contrast, making even the Sony Xperia Z's images, while fine when viewed in isolation, look a tad washed out when re-examined alongside.

Sample images

Pros: 13 megapixel resolution, Sweep Panorama function is both fun and effective, consistent performance in terms of colour and exposure from shot to shot, images noticeably hold detail apart from at highest ISOs, water resistant and dust-proof (unlike the majority of dedicated digital cameras).

Cons: Lens element is tiny even compared to a cheap point and shoot digital camera, display screen is cropped by operational toolbars to the left and right - or top and bottom - plus lens positioning means that stray fingertips can find their way into shot, less comfortable to hold for longer periods when composing shots because of flat edges.

HTC One

Price: £450/US$600/AU$690
Spec: 4MP 'ultra pixel', 4.7-inch display, HDMI, Bluetooth 4.0, USB, Wi-Fi, NFC

The HTC One's main camera element is located at the top edge of the handset, when held upright, and ranged dead centre, giving it a pleasingly symmetrical look. But by being as far away from either edge of the Android smartphone, it is also less likely that fingertips may stray in front of the lens in the process of gripping it.

Once you've set the phone up from scratch the camera icon is immediately visible bottom-right of screen. Give this a tap and you're immediately presented with the scene before your lens, the camera's AF automatically and visibly adjusting focus and exposure as you pan with the handset around the room or scene.

Like the HTC One X, the HTC One features a bright/fast aperture lens at f/2, with the lens itself offering a 28mm-wide focal length. The bright f/2 lens serves the HTC One well when shooting indoors using natural light.

This is the same sort of performance as its predecessor, although that model offered the standard 8 megapixels overall. Fudging the issue of pixel count, HTC refers to the One's main camera resolution in terms of 'ultra pixels' - a term that sounds zeitgeist-y but is basically meaningless and seems like an attempt to cover up an otherwise modest-sounding 4 megapixel camera.

As in the world of dedicated cameras, pixel count isn't everything, of course. Sensor size has a role to play too, and here it's a larger than most 1/3-inch. There's also a front-facing camera, offering a lower 2.1 megapixel resolution, as opposed to the previous HTC One X's 1.3MP.

Other features that will flick on a lightbulb in the head of photo enthusiasts are a back side-illuminated sensor, HDR facility for video as well as still images, plus optical image stabilisation to avoid hand wobble resulting in blurred shots. It betters the Sony Xperia Z in offering twice the internal memory, at 32GB, as well as NFC and Wi-Fi connectivity.

A new gimmick is something that on compact cameras is often referred to as 'motion snapshot', but here is given the less immediately obvious moniker of HTC Zoe. Press the shutter and the HTC One automatically captures up to 20 photos and a 3-second video (with Full HD 1080p resolution offered as standard here). The manufacturer claims that this produces a picture that's 'alive', or at least one that tells the story more fully by mixing media.

Flash operation is included too, or rather 'smart flash', as HTC likes to refer to it. Zooming in or out, again of the video variety, is a case of swiping your finger over a zoom bar on the screen, which is very responsive to the touch and the zoom action smoothly fluid.

An icon for immediately summoning up a comprehensive toolbar of built-in app-like digital filter effects is provided either at the bottom-right or bottom-left of the screen, depending on whether you're holding the handset to shoot in portrait or landscape orientation. We also get camera or video icons, with a tap of the former immediately taking the shot, rather than just selecting the relevant mode.

It's worth adding here that the HTC's screen is much brighter and clearer than many dedicated digital cameras we've had the pleasure of using, and really picks up fine detail, which is a bonus. Also a bonus is the fact that the image before the lens fills the whole of the screen in widescreen format, meaning it feels best suited to group portraits or landscape shots.

Specific image adjustments can also be made in-camera to the likes of exposure, contrast, saturation and sharpness. There are also dedicated scene, night, HDR and panorama options, selected via a toolbar located top or bottom-left of the screen, again depending on the manner in which you're holding the phone.

Manually selectable ISO runs up to the standard ISO 1600, up from the so-so maximum ISO 800 of its predecessor. Perhaps HTC is thinking it could justify upping the sensitivity as there are fewer pixels on the actual sensor.

The handset does, however, get quite warm over the course of using the camera. Also the shutter release is so sensitive on the HTC it's possible to fire off two shots instead of one.

Rather more interestingly, after capturing an image there's the facility to remove unwanted passers by from a photo in the style of Photoshop via an Object Removal function.

Sadly there's no microSD slot on the HTC One to expand the storage. Whereas that feature has been added to the Sony Xperia Z, HTC has once again jettisoned microSD use on the HTC One. This is a pity for us snap-happy users, even though it could be argued that a 32GB internal cache, the same as the predecessor HTC One X, is plenty.

We're all for paring down on unnecessary features and bulk, but this move feels a bit like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Coupled with the lower pixel resolution, which admittedly can have one benefit - in that fewer pixels on a smaller sensor equals less noisy images - the HTC One wouldn't be our first choice for the camera aspect alone.

This is disappointing, because we love the handling, look and feel of the HTC One handset. Where it could have been a champion, it's merely a (very good) option if you don't mind widescreen ratio still imagery.

Shots taken at higher ISOs such as ISO 800 and ISO 1600 are noticeably less noisy on the HTC One than either the Samsung Galaxy S4 or the Sony Xperia Z, however, so if retaining detail in low light is a priority then the HTC One is the phone to go for.

Sample images

Pros: The shape and design of the phone means it feels comfortable in the palm, it's very easy to access the camera and its features, plus the handset screen resolution is razor sharp, so images displayed on screen look fantastic.

Cons: A four megapixel or 'Ultrapixel' camera is looking distinctly underpowered in today's multi megapixel handset market, plus the lack of removable storage (no microSD slot) particularly disappoints.

Nokia 808 PureView

Price: £400/US$530 (around AU$600)
Spec: 41MP sensor (max 38MP photos), 4-inch AMOLED screen, HDMI, USB, DLNA, Bluetooth, NFC, Wi-Fi

The Nokia 808 PureView is most notable for cramming what Nokia calls the 'game changer' of a 41-megapixel sensor at its heart. This provides 38 or 34 megapixel photos at maximum resolution (generating a file size of 9MB+) depending on whether you've chosen 4:3 or 16:9 image aspect ratios, respectively.

That's a larger resolution than any sensor currently provided by a consumer-level digital camera, and likewise knocks other typically 8 and 12 megapixel smartphones out of the park.

In fact you'd have to be a professional commercial photographer working in advertising to justify spending around £20K on a digital medium format camera to achieve that level of specification from a dedicated device. Given that, a current price of £400/US$530 (around AU$600) for the Nokia 808 appears almost reasonable.

While the pixel count may be through the roof, naturally it doesn't automatically follow that the camera components of the Nokia 808 PureView are as good as a dedicated camera costing many times its outlay.That's because not only physical sensor size but also lens quality and construction plays an equally large part in the capture and 'photo realistic' quality of any image.

Also, we're only offered standard JPEG format images here (as we are with its rivals on test too), not the top quality unprocessed raw files provided by premium compact cameras, compact system cameras(CSCs) andDSLRs.

But first impressions are good. The Nokia's lens bears the branding of photo enthusiasts' favourite Carl Zeiss, most widely deployed by Sony's consumer digital camera range.

We also get a lens aperture of a reasonably bright f/2.4, which should serve it better in dim conditions - and going by our ISO results which are notably cleaner and clearer than competitors', this would seem to have been proved correct.

A built-in Xenon flash with a 4metre range is housed along with the lens in a raised bump on the rear of the handset, with a slightly roughened feel to the surface making for a tighter grip than most phones.

Despite the fairly high price tag, camera operation really is autofocus all the way, with only a meagre 4x digital zoom accessible. Added to that, in operation an on-screen message alerts us to the fact that the zoom function is disabled at full 38 megapixels.

Like all the other camera phones here, there is the ability to effortlessly flick between shooting still images and Full HD 1920 x 1080p video at 30 frames per second, which is on a par with any consumer level pocket camera.

Further features we might likewise find on a regular pocket camera include exposure compensation, auto/manual white balance, and face recognition.

However, with that obvious statement of intent heralded by the largest resolution on offer, plus no fewer than three creative modes alongside regulation-issue auto and pre-optimised scene shooting options, the Nokia would seem to place a greater deliberate emphasis than others here on image capture.

This comparatively impressive internal spec is twinned on the Nokia with a 4-inch AMOLED screen for shot composition and review. A tap of your subject at the position they appear on the screen biases focus toward them and subsequently fires the shutter; though there's also a 'hard' shutter release button on the bottom right-hand edge for more conventional use.

While the screen is clear and the captured images immediately look amazing when viewed on it, the pixel dimensions in play here are a modest 640 x 360 pixels. So it's only really once we've downloaded a 38 megapixel shot to our desktop that we begin to see the benefit over 8 and 12 megapixel pretenders.

Incidentally there is also the option to shoot at lower resolutions on the Nokia PureView 808, so if you don't need huge file sizes, you can dial it down.

Otherwise, at its best it produces natural colours, even consistent exposures and bags of detail into the corners of the frame.

A 16 megapixel mid-range compact camera would deliver very similar results - and you'd get a greater degree of true photographic control. That being said, for now this is probably the apex of the smartphone as a photographic device.

Sample images

Samsung Galaxy S4

Price: £520/US$630/AU$650
Spec: 13 megapixel, 5-inch AMOLED screen, USB 2.0, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, microSD card slot

The Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean-powered Samsung Galaxy S4 fields a large 5-inch Super AMOLED display for deeper blacks and all-round better contrast, as opposed to its predecessor's already sizeable 4.8-inches, so bettering Samsung's own dedicated Galaxy Camera in that respect.

It also comes with a 13 megapixel autofocus main camera - up from the respectable 8 megapixels of its predecessor, to now match Sony's Xperia Z in that respect - plus a secondary front-facing camera of the now seemingly regulation two megapixels.

Full HD 1080p video can also be shot at a 30fps frame rate, while our handset came with 16GB of built-in memory out of the box, with a microSD slot to expand this further if required. To insert the card you do actually have to un-clip the backplate, however, since there's no less intrusive side port.

The handset feels comfortable in the palm due in part to the rounded edges of its backplate, albeit not as comfortable as the HTC One. But like the One the image in front of the handset's lens commendably fills the whole of the screen, with operational icons floating over it.

However, if you want the highest 13MP resolution photos you have to choose the 4:3 aspect ratio option, which means black bands crop either end of the image to give you a more squared view.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 also offers up an impressively broad range of shooting modes - including options that might otherwise get filed under a 'scene settings' option on other handsets. These rotate before you with a finger swipe, ever so subtly aping the effect of adjusting a conventional shooting mode dial on a digital camera.

We get the standard default Auto option, but also dedicated settings for Night or Action/Sports shooting, Panorama (shots either in a vertical or horizontal direction), Eraser (which takes five sequential shots to be able to 'erase' any moving subject from the background) and Rich Tone, which is HDR by another name.

There are also no fewer than three motion snapshot-style options in Animated Photo, one of which records a mood-enhancing audio clip alongside your still image. And then there's Best Face and Best Photo (consecutive shooting to end up with the most flattering portrait), and finally Beauty Face, which automatically smoothes out facial blemishes.

These are all illustrated with an icon displaying the type of image you might take when using one of the shooting modes, plus a brief text bubble by way of further explanation. So there's plenty of handholding available here for those of us who want to take better photos without actively being experts in photography.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 gives us icons for camera (stills shooting) and camcorder on the screen. Tapping the camera icon immediately takes a shot, so there's no second delay as we switch into camera mode.

Because we mainly use our phones for those spur-of-the-moment shots rather than the more considered ones we might opt to use a proper camera for, this time-saving shortcut makes sense.

The camera part here again uses continuous autofocus. Like HTC's One we're also spoilt with a range of fun and effective in-camera effects filters. However, these are applied after capturing images, with the altered image saved alongside the original.

These include the regulars of negative, sepia, black and white and the ilk, and are saved as PNG files rather than JPEGs, with the unadulterated originals remaining as JPEGs.

Image quality isn't at all bad on the Samsung Galaxy S4, though white balance did appear to wander slightly during a course of sequential shots, with the results being most closely comparable in our eyes to that of the Sony Xperia Z in terms of well-saturated colour and detail.

However, the end results still fall short of the sharpness achievable with a dedicated camera, and the HTC One's shots are clearer and cleaner at higher ISO settings.

Sample images

Pros: One of the larger screens out there - along with Sony's Xperia Z - for shot composition and review, ability to expand memory for photos and video via microSD card slot, easy to use camera features and overall functionality, in camera effects filters are fun and effective, warm colours and consistency from shot to shot.

Cons: One of the larger handsets out there makes it slightly unwieldy; image quality also still falls short of what a dedicated digital camera could achieve with 13 megapixels.

Apple iPhone 5

Price: £530/US$650/AU$799
Spec: 8MP iSight camera, 4-inch Retina display, Bluetooth 4.0 Wi-Fi

The ubiquity of the iPhone tends to transcend any criticisms - for example the fact that with its flattened (rather than sloping) edges it's not the most comfortable handset to hold in the palm - while also enabling Apple to modestly claim the device houses 'the world's most popular camera.'

This latest aluminium iteration with ceramic glass inlays also claims to be the thinnest and lightest version to date. The iPhone 5 comes with an 8 megapixel iSight camera located towards a top edge at the back (which is exactly where fingertips tend to stray), which is supposedly protected against scratches by what Apple claims is sapphire crystal.

The wow factor lies in a visibly bright 4-inch Retina screen at the front, offering a 1136 x 640 pixel display, though it is in fact narrower than all but the Nokia 808 among its rivals here.

Powered by Apple's iOS 6, camera features such as a dynamic low light mode plus a really quite successful 240-degree panorama option, which creates a single elongated image comprised of up to 28 megapixels in total, are onboard.

Speed of photo capture - often sluggish on handsets when compared to dedicated cameras, which is why indoor stills are often blurred - is said to have been improved by 40% over the iPhone 4S.

Also borrowed from compact snapshot cameras is face detection for up to 10 frozen smiles in a single frame, 'tap screen to focus' functionality, plus 1920 x 1080p video clips at up to 30fps.

A photo can be captured in the middle of shooting a video sequence, and a 1.2 megapixel front-facing camera is onboard for video conferencing (720p at up to 30fps). An LED flash is provided for scenarios for when it's too dark to take a shot without.

Seeming to tick the proverbial boxes then, on the iPhone 5, as with others here, the camera function is presented as an app instantly accessed via a finger tap.

Speed of photo capture - often sluggish on handsets when compared to dedicated cameras, which is why indoor stills are often blurred - is said to have been improved by 40% over the iPhone 4S.

Also borrowed from compact snapshot cameras is face detection for up to 10 frozen smiles in a single frame, 'tap screen to focus' functionality, plus 1920 x 1080p video clips at up to 30fps.

A photo can be captured in the middle of shooting a video sequence, and a 1.2 megapixel front-facing camera is onboard for video conferencing (720p at up to 30fps). An LED flash is provided for scenarios for when it's too dark to take a shot without.

Seeming to tick the proverbial boxes then, on the iPhone 5, as with others here, the camera function is presented as an app instantly accessed via a finger tap.

We did enjoy the fact that a simple tap of the camera icon at the top-right of the screen alternates between the front-facing camera and the higher resolution one at the rear, making self-portraits a cinch - as seen on other cameras here.

Similarly, a slider switch at the bottom-right of the screen enables you to swap effortlessly between stills or video capture - a familiar red record button appearing centre stage in the latter mode, as with the others here. So use is intuitive - something at which Apple has always excelled.

To get straight down to the business of capturing a photo, a tap of the camera icon at the bottom-right of the screen takes a snap accompanied by the sampled sound of a shutter firing. The volume buttons on the phone's side can also be used as twin shutter releases when in camera mode.

Similarly impressive is the fact that a shot is taken with very little shutter lag - meaning the time between pressing the button and the device actually taking the shot is tiny. This meant that we were more likely to achieve the image we saw in our mind's eye before taking the picture.

Editing functions are pretty limited - to being able to crop, rotate, auto enhance or remove red eye, but of course there are a plethora of downloadable camera and image editing apps if you want to do more.

While the process of taking an image is simple, getting said image off the iPhone 5 involves a number of routes, since there's no removable media card provided here. So it's either emailing it to yourself, going the social media route and posting it on Facebook, or better still automatically saving all your new images to Dropbox.

Images taken under tungsten light are disappointingly grainy, and while Apple may claim that the iPhone's little lens is the most popular camera in the world, even compared with a lower-to-mid-range point and shoot camera it's far from the best.

Another thing to mention is that the positioning of the iPhone's lens - over in one corner of the handset, again means that it is easy for finger tips to stray in front, simply in the process of handling the phone.

Coupled with this, you can't control ISO light sensitivity settings manually - so the phone simply chooses automatically (up to a maximum ISO 3200 setting). That was a slight frustration for us when manual ISO selection is a feature of all its camera phone rivals here. Again it appears Apple is favouring ease of use above all else.

Sample images

Pros: It has a bright screen and easy to use and intuitive point and shoot operation, and as a camera the iPhone 5 is almost infinitely customisable via apps. Plus its side-mounted volume buttons double up as a shutter release when shooting.

Cons: Taking and reviewing photos appears to rapidly consume battery power, while camera options are more basic than the most basic of digital compacts, with no manual selection of ISO (though of course there are apps that lend greater control). Also, it has a narrower screen than others here.

Nokia Lumia 925

Price: £470/US$650/AU$750
Spec: 8.7MP sensor, 4.5-inch display, wireless charging, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, micro USB, NFC

Like the Nokia 808 PureView and Nokia Lumia 920 before it, the Nokia Lumia 925 comes in either 16GB or 32GB memory capacities complete with the brand's optical image stabilised PureView technology, wrapped in a body that shows off the aluminium construction to a degree that looks increasingly iPhone-like, while retaining a monoblock handset design.

Stylish appearance aside, first impressions of the phone's camera are good, in that the porthole housing the camera lens on the back is large and prominent, even though the lens at its centre remains physically tiny. The sensor is Carl Zeiss branded - this being one of the names most closely associated with optical excellence in the camera world, and more usually paired with Sony.

Maximum aperture is a bright f/2.0, which is respectable, as is a wide fixed focal length of 26mm with an 8cm minimum focus range. Should you have to use extra illumination, then dual LED flash is provided with an operating range of 3 metres.

The autofocus JPEG-only camera resolution hasn't altered between successive handset generations. The Nokia 925 again incorporates an 8.7 megapixel, 1/3-inch backside illuminated sensor.

Of course, more pixels on the same sized chip can lead to image noise - visible as grain-like speckles - appearing in shadow details, so with the Nokia 925 being sold partly on its low light claims, this has a degree of inherent logic. Naturally the bright f/2.0 aperture lens and the fact that the sensor is back illuminated also helps with its light gathering abilities (the lower the 'f' number the more light gets in).

The display size used for framing and reviewing images - and navigating all the rest of the phone's non-camera-related features - stays at 4.5 inches. The tile-based Windows layout is once again navigated via an AMOLED touchscreen, and very clear and bright it looks too, thanks in part to a 1280 x 768 pixel display.

As with most latest generation smartphones there is a front-facing camera for self-portraits, which here offers 1280 x 960 pixels (or 1.2 megapixels) - so HD rather than Full HD - and boasts an almost as bright (but not quite) aperture of f/2.4.

This screen has been retained from the Lumia 920 while Nokia has made the overall handset shorter, narrower and thinner, if only by a millimetre or two, as well as lighter.

Despite a narrower screen bezel, again a physical shutter release button is provided to the far right of the narrow edge of the handset, helpfully falling naturally under the forefinger of your right hand when turning it on its side to shoot in landscape orientation.

On the Nokia Lumia 925, as with so many camera manufacturers currently, Nokia is referring to its built-in camera as being 'smart'. In our experience this is more a fancy marketing term than any tangible change up of gear, but the claim here partly refers to the ability to shoot a sequence of shots to end up with one you might actually want to keep.

By doing so, you then have the ability to excise moving objects from your frame that are ruining the shot - there's always someone walking by as you're trying to photograph that eighth wonder, after all - as is likewise offered by the HTC One's Object Removal function. Just tap the screen to prompt this in-camera Photoshop-like piece of magic.

Alternatively you can combine the sequential frames into one shot, zoetrope-style. Cool, but not a valid reason for adopting the Nokia 925 alone, and it is slightly irritating that this is the camera's default setting upon power up, when you might not always want a burst of images.

Fortunately if you don't want the camera to rattle off a sequence you can select regular single shot capture mode with a couple of further screen taps. Here you can switch between 16:9 aspect ratio images that fill the handset screen or 4:3 ratio ones, which is the most common default setting for a standalone digital camera.

Unsurprisingly - and unlike the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom - there's no optical zoom onboard the Nokia 925 - just a 4x digital variety. Video remains the industry standard Full HD 1920 x 1080 pixels at 30fps - the frame rate also unaltered from the Nokia 920.

Something that has changed in the Nokia 925, however, is that light sensitivity settings now go higher than a modest ISO 800 - up to a maximum ISO 3200 in fact, which is approaching dedicated compact camera territory for specification, and again, is another weapon in the camera phone's arsenal for effective low light snapping.

Though it reads like weak praise, the photos we got out of this device weren't bad, and a pleasing level of detail is delivered when focus gets it spot on. However, we did notice a tendency for auto white balance to wander between shots, with daylight providing a blueish colour cast, for example.

Where the Nokia 925 again came off slightly better than rivals was when shooting in lower light without flash, as our ISO sample shots testify - due in part once again to the twinning of a bright aperture f/2 lens with a back illuminated sensor.

If we've a gripe it's that the Nokia 925 could be a little more user friendly. For example the photo (and video) settings menus are actually hidden down at the bottom of the screen and so need to be dragged up for access. There is again a limited degree of image editing accessible, such as the ability to rotate, crop and auto enhance your shots.

There's also a Creative Studio feature that enables you to turn pre-captured images to black and white (here referred to as 'Silver' - a nod perhaps to silver halide) or give them toy camera-like colour filter effects such as 'Jade' and 'Amber'. Again this is a fun feature, if non-essential.

Auto and manual white balance settings are also accessible, this time pre-capture, as is exposure compensation of +/- 2EV. You can use a focus assist light if desired, while flash settings are restricted to functional rather than elaborate: we get just auto, on or off.

While the USB/charger port is now at the top of the handset rather than the bottom, and the speaker has moved from the very base to the bottom edge of the backplate, there's a lot about the Nokia 925 that has stayed the same in terms of camera specification and performance when compared with the earlier Nokia 920 handset. Thus the pros and cons of the Nokia 925 as a photographic tool largely mirror those of the Nokia 920.

If you're coming to the Nokia 925 cold, though, you won't be disappointed - particularly for shots in lower light. Unless you're comparing it to a dedicated digital camera that is, with a physically larger lens, sensor and a greater number of pixels.

But that's to be expected, and the all-in-one convenience of the Nokia undoubtedly has its draw if you're only going to have the one device to hand for snapshots.

Sample images

Pros: Bright f/2 aperture lens, Windows operating system, 8 megapixel camera, image editing tools, large and bright screen, Carl Zeiss optics, back illuminated sensor.

Cons: No media card slot, naturally pricier on launch than the largely identical Nokia 920, making that earlier phone currently the better buy, fun 'smart camera' functions come across as gimmicky rather than essential extras.

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