Samsung Galaxy S III camera app hands-on

Samsung has had some pretty good cameras in its phones for some time now, and the Galaxy S III is no exception. The SGSIII finds itself with an 8-megapixel rear shooter, and a 1.9-megapixel camera round front. Sammy's mantra as far as the camera goes is that it wants you to "never miss a picture-perfect moment."

The camera app remains impressive. The shutter snaps as soon as you touch the screen (some people prefer that, others prefer it to trigger on release), and there's virtually no lag between touch and picture. You've got some pretty standard options -- panorama mode, macro, etc. -- and HDR imaging (that's the one where pictures of differing resolutions are combined for a more dynamic look) is now built in as well.

A feature Samsung's particularly proud of is burst mode, which will capture up to 20 images in a single take by holding down the shutter button. (You do have to first enable burst mode in the settings.)

Facial recognition is another high point, as Samsung's making a big deal out of being able to identify your friends faces, tag photos, group them, and share them. In demos it's seemed to work well enough. We'll reserve ful judgment for when we get to use it in the real world.

Shooting video works as expected, and Samsung's also got the ability to snap still images while recording motion at 1080p. (Unlike HTC's video playback, however, you can't take still images while reviewing a video.)

All in all, though, a pretty solid performance by the Samsung Galaxy S III in the optical department.

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