Samsung Focus 2 (AT&T) review

Will Samsung mirror its Android success with its latest Windows Phone?

Samsung Focus 2 (AT&T)
Samsung returns to Windows Phone offering a capable alternative to the Lumia

Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

The Focus 2's camera is also used to capture video, using a film icon in the lower right corner (upper right when held in landscape format) to toggle between moving and still pictures.

For some reason the Focus 2 defaults to VGA resolution for video, but it can also capture at the preferred 720p (1280x720) HD resolution at 30 frames per second. Switching to 720p produces clear video that will more than get the job done in most situations.

There are some drawbacks to taking video with the Focus 2. It doesn't appear to have any image stabilization to speak of, so videos have a tendency to be on the jittery side. Audio from videos is also pretty poor, with speech often garbled as the microphone attempts to discern between its target and background noise.

On the bright side, video capture has the same adjustable settings as still images, allowing you to correct the white balance contrast, saturation, and sharpness as needed. The camera flash can also be set to function as additional lighting for videos, though it doesn't provide quite enough illumination to handle anything darker than a moderately to dimly lit room.