Review: Huawei Activa 4G for MetroPCS
Camera
The Activa uses the stock Android 2.3 camera application. This means it has a large viewfinder consuming the left 80% of the display, with the right 20% offering access to all the controls for the camera app.
There are six options floating within the viewfinder that offer access to the more specific camera controls, such as overall settings (focus mode, exposure value, image size/quality, effects, etc.), location, white balance, flash, zoom, and which camera is being used (front/back).
As for performance, the Activa is a bit slow for my tastes. Pressing and holding the dedicated camera button opens the app, but it takes a several seconds. Though the on-screen controls are speedy enough, the actual picture-taking process is far too slow. There's a significant delay between pressing the shutter button and seeing any sort of reaction from the phone itself. Focusing takes a second, then another second to take the shot, and then several seconds to process the shot before it is added to the gallery and you can get back to the business of taking photos.
Gallery
The Activa's gallery is the boring old stock Android option. Photo albums float in stacks in the main gallery view and the Activa syncs with your online accounts such as Google+ and Picasa, so you'll see those photos, too.
Unfortunately, the Activa includes only the most basic editing functions (crop and rotate.) There are no other editing tools, nor is there any third-party software for editing photos pre-installed. You have to download one yourself if you're interested in making changes to images. You can, however, easily share photos to the social network of your choice via the standard Android gallery tools.
I found the gallery's performance to be severely lacking. It's far too slow at swiping from image to image, and even slower to open and operate the menus and sharing functions. The camera and gallery both suffer thanks to the meager processor and limited resources under the Activa's hood.
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Huawei Activa 4G
