Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 review

If you're any kind of Sony Ericsson fan, you'll know that it has a long history of making phones with incredibly good cameras.

We've been looking forward to seeing what the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 would be like in terms of photography, and it's easily one of the best out there on the market, with an 8MP snapper with high-power LED flash.

Although the latter is odd - you can't actually use the flash like a flash; instead you have to turn on the 'photo light' and then take the pic. So lots of pictures of people with screwed up and squinty faces, then.

However, every shot comes out crisp and clear, with a very quick shutter speed for a phone.

Sony Ericsson might not have piled on a huge amount of settings to play with, but there's more than enough to be messing around with to get the perfect picture nine times out of 10.

Smile shot, multiple autofocus and touch-to-take options mean that it's much easier to snap the photo you want, rather than watching your phone focus on things in the distance and blur up the foreground.

Another nice touch is that spinning the phone from landscape to portrait will change the UI accordingly, making it much easier to use the camera no matter which way you want to use it.

PLEASANT: This simply divine lake scene shows how the X10 captures all aspects of detail in bright light

FOREGROUND: Here the touch-capture is used - the foreground is highlighted

THE OTHER ONE: Focusing on the sky, you can see the light meter changes accordingly

TOO LIGHT: With the exposure set right up

TOO DARK: And you would never have guessed it: with the exposure right down

OBSERVE THE DUCKS: But it's hard to see them from this distance

EXTREME CLOSE UP: The zoom merely crops the photo rather than adding a whole lot of detail when fully extended

Video is pretty darn good on the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 too, with the camera offering a number of modes to shoot with, ranging from the basic 'good for web' resolution to WVGA.

HD video has been added to the mix and well, and it works pretty well too - we're in the middle of properly testing this (ie filming a loon dancing) and will be back with the results soon.

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We believe it captures at 24fps, but the quality and smoothness of the footage is a little suspect at times in VGA mode. Overall, it's a good video recorder, but not the best in the world by a long way for a mobile phone.