Name: Galaxy S Advance (I9070)
Brand: Samsung

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Camera

One of the most coveted features of any smartphone, the 5 megapixel rear-mounted camera on the Samsung Galaxy S Advance is a largely impressive affair, packing an LED flash and punching above its weight to capture a selection of great-looking and eye-catching snaps.

Despite these plus points, however, as with many areas of this dual-core handset, this doesn't mean the snapper isn't without its faults.

Far from the best camera in terms of well-rounded light management, the Samsung Galaxy S Advance frequently struggles when faced with variable and challenging natural lighting conditions, with the handset's snapper often failing to find a mutually beneficial balance between the areas of light and shadow.

Struggling in more areas than simple light management, the inbuilt camera features a shutter speed that is a long way from setting the world alight.

Ensuring you don't whip your handset out to capture a quick passing shot, the sluggish shutter can result in missed shots and create a selection of photographs filled with areas of blurring and distortion.

Not quite up to par with the 8-megapixel cameras currently filtering down to the Advance's mid-range market rivals or those featuring on the high-end smartphones it is trying to undercut on price, the S Advance isn't without merit.

When taking shots of well lit, static subjects, the results are very positive, with bold, vibrant colours paired with sharp, distinct edges and noticeable depth.

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While there's a selection of both free and paid-for apps in the Google Play Store that will see your snaps take on a selection of eye catching forms and effects, the Samsung Galaxy S Advance touts its own array of basic snap adaptions, with you able to give your images a greyscale, sepia or negative makeover.

While these effects are rather rudimentary, the results can be highly impressive when used in the right situations.

Complementing the 5MP snapper on the rear, a 1.3MP camera lines up on the front of the phone to offer surprisingly impressive, albeit largely flat images, as well as the now customary yet little used option of video calls.