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Acer's paper specifications don't make the camera sound industry-leading, just quoting its 5MP stills resolution and the 720p video recording.
And, in truth, there aren't a huge number of tweaks and fiddles you can achieve with it. Having a side button for quick launch is handy, and the macro mode is capable of some stunning shots.
But when it comes to settings there's not a lot going on. There's no panorama shooting mode, and not even a flash to liven up indoor shots.
And there's one more gripe. Although the AMOLED screen is sharp and bright indoors, when you're outside and trying to frame photos it can be pretty difficult to see, especially if there's a lot of sunlight around.
There are HD (1280 x 720) and Full HD (1920 x 1080) still shooting modes to accompany the more usual 5MP, 3MP, 2MP, 1MP and 0.3MP modes, and there's also a mode to shoot at 800 x 480, which is called wallpaper mode and photographs at the native screen resolution.
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This shot, taken in shade, looks okay at first glance, but check out the left-hand grassy area and the further away parts of the water. These are the areas with the brightest light and the camera doesn't cope well here. Also, the purple flowers are something of a blur.
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In general, everyday photographs were a little bland as far as colour goes. On a fairly bright sunny day, the exposure on this photograph isn't quite what it could be. There's a lack of detail in the brickwork, for example.
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The difference between using 5-megapixel and Full HD (1920 x 1080) shooting modes is clear here. Look at how much more foreground is in the HD shot, and also at how much thinner the photo is.
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The macro mode produced some absolutely stunning shots. We'd be happy to get a print of this one – the colour reproduction and detailing is superb
The 720p video shoots at 24 frames per second. It had the same problems coping with available light as the stills camera did, so video looks a bit washed out.
And there's another, arguably more important, issue in that video is jerky. The jerkiness exists through the whole video, rather than coming in bursts as it did on the Motorola Milestone XT720, which also shoots 720p.
As we've already noted, any content shot on the handset can be sent directly to a device with HDMI support. There's a port on the Acer Stream, and a cable is provided. You can control video playback using the buttons on the front of the Acer Stream.
Quality is comparable to what you see on the screen – jerkiness present but not wholly unwatchable by any means.
