Review: HTC One V for Virgin Mobile
Camera
The One V uses the same camera software that's found on the One X and One S. The performance is good, though it's the one app I'd say suffers (just a wee bit!) from the slower processor of the One V.
Since there is no dedicated camera button, you have to open the camera from a home screen shortcut or the lock screen shortcut. It opens very quickly. The controls are laid out simply. On the top-left corner you'll see the flash controls. Rather than obstruct the screen with a drop-down menu, it cycles between on, auto, and off every time you press it.
The full settings menu lets users adjust video quality, the review screen, the ISO, white balance, etc. There are some really cool advanced features, such as continuous shooting and video stabilization. There are also different types of capture and scene modes, such as HDR, panorama, portrait, macro, etc.
The V has a dual-shutter button. The top half shoots still images, and the lower half captures video. The result is you never have to switch between camera or video modes, you just choose the shutter button that takes pictures, or the one that shoots video. The really neat feature is that you can take still images while recording video (without interrupting the video.)
The software is mostly quick, though every so often (not all the time) it was slow to focus, or took an extra second or two to save an image. The delays are nothing egregious, but it was noticeable when compared to a One X (admittedly, a whole different class of phone.)
Gallery
The main view of the gallery shows stacks of photos, images, and videos floating on the screen. They are broken down into groupings such as Camera Shots, All Photos, All Videos, and Screenshots. At the top of the screen, you'll see a drop-down menu that says "Albums." Press it, and you'll automatically see a list of all the photo albums associated with the phone and your online accounts, such as Facebook, Flickr, DropBox, or Picasa.
Once you drill down into the album of your choice, there are four buttons along the bottom for performing select actions (share, delete, edit, more). You need to tap on an individual photo to load it. You can of course share photos through any social network/messaging service you want. You can set the images as your wallpaper, print it, see the photo's location on a map, etc.
Editing features are very limited. You can crop, rotate, or apply effects. That's it. The effects run the typical selection, such as black & white, antique, etc. There is no third-party photo editing software, but there is a video editor. It lets you piece together videos you've captured with the phone into simple projects.
Hands On with the HTC One V
Liveblog: HTC
HTC Brings Back the Chin with the One V
HTC One V
