Name: Smart Platinum 7
Brand: Vodafone

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Camera

The final telltale spec that tends to give away a mid-range phone with delusions of 'premium' grandeur is the camera. You simply can't cut corners with camera tech like you can elsewhere.

On paper, the Vodafone Smart Platinum 7 seems to have its photographic house in order. We're looking at a 16-megapixel rear shooter with HDR, phase detection autofocus, and a claimed 'zero second shutter lag'.

In practice, this camera isn't going to be giving the Samsung Galaxy S7 or iPhone 6S any sleepless nights, but it is a reasonably accomplished unit.

Shooting in decent natural light, I found the experience to be quick and consistent, with reasonably accurate results. Landscape shots were generally well balanced, with bright but not overblown skies and adequately exposed foregrounds.

As is often the case, using the phone inside or in less-than-ideal lighting exposes the camera's limitations. I found shots taken in such conditions to be quite noisy and washed out, and the phone also seemed to struggle with focus at times. Still, this is far from unique, even among some so-called high-end phones.

You might be able to tell from my tone that I wasn't blown away by the results from the main camera, but that's not to say they were bad, or even especially disappointing. Like I said, it's much tougher for a phone to punch above its weight when it comes to the camera, and while the Smart Platinum 7 camera won't let you down in general usage, nor will it wow you.

Arguably more impressive than the main camera is the Smart Platinum 7's 8-megapixel front-facing shooter, which comes with its own flash. You should find that you're able to capture relatively decent selfies in any lighting conditions.

The camera UI appears to take a number of cues from Apple's iOS camera app, which means it's pleasant and intuitive to use. It has the familiar delineated black area dedicated to the shutter controls, and a similar swipe-to-select system for the various modes (Pano, Slow-Mo etc).

You also get a Manual mode, which overlays controls for ISO, shutter speed, white balance and manual focus onto the viewfinder. It's all very tidy, and there are none of the garish or gimmicky 'beauty' settings that you get with some mid-rangers from overseas.

Add in the sheer speed of the thing – both in terms of accessing the camera app via that dedicated button, and actually reeling off shots – and it becomes evident that the camera doesn't really let this high-value phone package down.