It has been nearly two years since the release of the first Android device, the G1/Magic. Back in 2008 the handset debuted with a 3.2 megapixel camera without flash. In almost two years not much advancement has been made. But than again there doesn’t seem to be many companies that are attempting to push the envelope when it comes to hardware design and specifications. The Samsung Vibrant comes in the same mold as many Android devices but with one exception, it does NOT have a flash. Yes, a high end Android device (released in 2010) with a 5 megapixel camera and NO flash. What was Samsung thinking and why would they not include a flash on one of its most important releases to date. While its hard to understand their decision, I’ve put the Vibrant through its paces and hopefully the sample shots will give you a better idea of what to expect. As mentioned in part 1 of the hands-on I am using the Vibrant as a reference for this article a majority if not all included information should be applicable to all Galaxy S variants.

Ill try to be as thorough and detailed as possible when it comes describing the camera software on the Samsung Vibrant. The Vibrant is currently running on Android 2.1 with a custom interface called TouchWiz UI. Like most Android devices the Vibrant does not have a mechanical camera button but instead relies on the touchscreen to initialize and shoot. Once you click on the camera icon it takes about two seconds for the camera application to initialize and you are ready to shoot. The interface is simple, showing only the targeting cursor and a camera button to take the photos. The camera is capable of changing focus by tapping on the screen. The interface works well and should be understandable for most users. On the left hand side of the screen is a tab. When pressed it unfolds all the options for the camera on the right and left side. Clicking on this could be considered entering “advanced mode” which gives better control and more options when taking a picture. Ill start from the left side which has an option to toggle between camera and camcorder.

The shooting mode has 9 categories (some descriptions taken verbatim from the Vibrant manual) :

single shot (takes a single photo)
beauty (adjusts the contrast to smooth facial deatures)
smile shot (focuses on the face and once a smile is detected it takes a picture)
continuous (takes a succession of consecutive )
panorama (takes a series of photos and stitches them togethr to create one panoramic image)
vintage (adds haze around the edges / tones can be adjusted to normal, warm, cool, and mono)
add me (combines subject with existing background)
action shot detects actions and creates a panorama shot)
cartoon (gives the photo a cartoony look)

There is an option which allows you to set default destinations. This allows you to select where your pictures will go by default when you select a service like new email, new number, phone book, or online album. Also adjusting exposure rate is available but but only allows for toggling in certain modes (scale from -2 to +2). If you thought that was quite a bit to toggle with than you will surprised to know that there are even more options. The Settings menu in the right hand corner yields a total of 7 screens of options.

Focus Mode (Auto Focus, Macro, Face detection)
Scene Mode (portrait, landscape, night, sports, party/indoor, beach/snow, sunset, dawn, fall colour, fireworks, text, candlelight, backlight)
Timer (2 seconds, 5 seconds, 10 seconds)
Resolution (5MP, 4MP WIDE, 3.2MP, 2.4MP WIDE, 2MP, 1.5MP WIDE, .3MP AND .4MP WIDE)
White Balance (Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Incandescent, Fluorescent)
Effects (Normal, Negative, Black and White, and Sepia)
ISO (Auto, 100, 200, 400, 800)
Metering (centre-weighted, spot, and matrix)
Anti-shake, Auto contrast, Blink detection
Image Quality (Superfine, Fine, Normal)
Adjust (Contrast, Saturation, and Sharpness : Adjustable from -2 to +2)

WOW! Quite a bit to read through but I thought it might be helpful to list everything down to give you a better idea of the amount of control/settings there are. Along with pictures the Vibrant has the capability of recording video in 5 different resolutions with the 720 at 30 FPS being the highest. The quality of the video looks clear with color being accurate and with minimal distortion. The video capability suffers from the same problem as the camera and produces poor results used at night.

So whats my overall opinion? In day to day use I find myself using two modes, auto and macro mode. The truth of the matter is I rarely photograph people. Most daytime shots I took resulted in great results with the color being represented accurately. The camera is quick to start up and ready to shoot almost instantly. Although there were times when the camera did not focus properly when using the manual mode of targeting a subject (happened more in macro mode). Also not having a physical camera button makes it difficult/nearly impossible to use it one handed. As for night shots, the Vibrant performs poorly. The camera does not have a flash and the camera must compensate through a setting called Night Mode. Theoretically this mode is meant to allow photographs to be taken at night without the need of flash. I believe it does this by opening the shutter and letting in more light. Sounds like a good idea but the problem is that when the shutter stays open longer, most times it will result in blurry pictures or over exposed light sources. I found it best to use this mode when the light source was behind the photographer and minimizing the amount of light sources were in the actual photo.

While the Vibrant is one of the best Android devices on the market its a shame that Samsung felt it would be acceptable to create a device without a flash. I can accept the average 5 megapixel sensor (globally I think camera standards are a bit higher at 8MP-12Mp for higher end units) but for an Android device its perfectly normal. But not having a flash is unacceptable! Even with most common flash technology (LED, Dual LED) while it might not provide adequate light in most scenarios and is paltry in comparison to Xenon at least with those you have the option to shoot in low light / no light scenarios. As for the customization I think its great that the camera has options but in reality I think its a bit too much. By the time you are done fiddling with all the settings your precious or not so precious moment that your trying to capture has already gone by. It would be interesting to see if in future builds user customization of the menu system would be possible. I have heard the the Captivate has a better menu system and it can be installed if you have Root access. Overall, like most mobile devices the camera performs well in brightly lit areas, but leaves much to be desired when it comes to night shots.