There are no surprises in the latest Cyber-shot interface. Settings on a toolbar with pop-up submenus and the Multi Menu have become well known since the K850 and do help the overall user experience.
The two photo keys over the display and the D-pad in camera mode give access to the most frequently used camera settings like focus mode, exposure, flash control, and self-timer.
Traditionally, the viewfinder toolbar lets you control shoot mode, scenes, picture size, focus mode, flash, self-timer, exposure metering, white balance, effects, and additional settings.
Cyber-shot v2.0 camera user interface: viewfinder • viewfinder with settings • multi menu
Like most modern cameraphones, the Sony Ericsson W995 has face detection built right in. The face recognition system allows you to simultaneously track as many as 3 faces, unlike normal focus, which is usually locked on the one that's closest to the center of the frame.
Unfortunately, there is no smile detection or a.k.a. Smile Shutter.
Face detection
The ultra quick-snapping BestPic mode has two varieties - fast and slow. In fast mode it produces 7 full-size 8 megapixel images at intervals of about 0.8 sec, while in slow mode it takes 7 images again but at a longer interval of about 1.7 sec. Sadly, the flash is unusable in either of the two modes.
With a built-in GPS receiver, the Sony Ericsson W995 is capable of putting standard GPS coordinates in images. You can enable geotagging (Add position) from the settings to add GPS location data to your pictures. A flag icon at the bottom of the viewfinder indicates that the option is activated. A satellite icon in the top left corner shows that the phone is attempting to get a GPS lock.
The proper geo-tagging of images requires some time for the GPS to lock position. The successful lock is depicted by a set of green stripes in the upper right corner of the camera viewfinder (right next to the satellite icon).
You can, of course, speed up the process by enabling the Assisted-GPS function, but this generates extra data traffic on your account so bear that in mind.
When browsing tagged images in the gallery, the View on map option displays the place where the picture was taken directly on the preinstalled Google Maps.
Geo-tagging option is in settings
The Sony Ericsson W995 has a Power LED flash, which is also used as a focus assist beam. The flash is pretty bright and surprisingly effective in dark conditions. Of course, nothing can really compare to a xenon flash, but it still does a nice job and can be used for video recording.
The Flash control tab in the menu
The dedicated macro mode in the W995 allows you to take images from as close as 10 cm. The optional silent shutter is also a feature worth mentioning.
The one shortcoming we found with the W995 concerns the one-way menu layout - to get to the Extra settings you have to go through all the other settings on the toolbar as it's the last item there. Looped browsing of items on the toolbar should have been possible, as with the camera interfaces of competing brands. This problem persists in W902, C905 and other previous Sony Ericsson phones.
So what's up with the picture quality? Unlike the 8 megapixel Cyber-shot C905 - whose photos astonished us - the W995 suffers a similar problem to all other Walkman phones: the pictures are noisy and oversharpened, and the lively colors and contrast are gone. Another old friend makes an appearance here too - the purple fringing on the edge of buildings. Even the picture detail is less than on the C905.
But, hey, don't get too gloomy over this - the overall impression is good. The W995 camera catches the moment just as any Cyber-shot does. It has almost all of its features and the photo quality is reasonably satisfying. There is certainly work to be done on the image processing algorithm and we really hope this will happen before the phone is out on the market.
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