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I’ve started judging Mobile Phone Operating systems by the UI in Camera Mode. On the iPhone you have it way too simplistic, with access to only a handful of features. On Windows Phone you have it slightly better. On Android it’s slightly uglier but you have access to a lot more features, but that all depends on what manufacturer’s UI is loaded on top. Then you have the Harmattan UI on MeeGo, on the Nokia N9.
As I mentioned in my first impressions, I’m definitely a fan of the N9′s UI. Everything’s super slick, quick and the ‘swipe’ gesture is very intuitive in the way it works. That all carries onto the Camera UI as well.
To give you a better idea, here’s a video on the N9′s Camera UI, and a little peek at the gallery app.
Incase the video takes too long to load for ya, read on for the Camera UI, and Samples. The Camera App is right on the third row of icons in the main menu of the N9. You can rearrange it if you’d wish, but since there’s no hardware camera key, you’ll need to know where it is to use it.
When you start up the Camera app, you’re presented with a full screen viewfinder, with very neatly stacked icons all around.
On the right hand side, you have a gallery icon up top, with the virtual onscreen shutter key below it towards the middle, and the toggle to switch to video mode at the bottom. You’ll notice the focusing square in the screenshot above as well. The N9 has touch-to-focus, which can really help come up with some very creative images at times. Towards the top of the screen you have a translucent bar that is used to tap on to zoom in or out. On the left hand side you have a settings icon showing you the current settings, which you can change by tapping on it to bring up the following list of settings:
You have your scene modes, flash, white balance…
Light Sensitivity, Aspect Ratio, Resolution…
Face detection, show captured content, geo-tagging and a feature that I’ve been wanting to see on Mobile Cameras for a while now, Creator Name, which puts your name in the Image’s File Properties. So as you can see, there’s quite a load of settings to tinker with to get the result you want. I cant write a Nokia Camera post without mentioning ‘what a shame about the lack of Xenon Flash‘ but the Dual LED flash does a respectable job in a handful of scenarios. Still nowhere near a Xenon Flash though.
The camera UI is super quick, taking a picture is literally just like, a second. Honestly I’ve never seen a mobile camera take a picture that quickly. And as if that all wasnt enough, switching to Video mode takes just a second as well, with a nice little ‘flip‘ animation.
The camera video UI is almost exactly the same, with different values on the options icon. One thing worth noting is that you cant zoom in while recording a video (maybe that feature will come along in a software update?) but you can zoom in before recording. There’s also the Touch-to-focus in Video which means you can get all Artsy while recording.
The Settings Menu is basically the same, with Video options instead, like a ‘Video at Night’ scene mode and the option to record at WVGA standard definition, or VGA low resolution instead of 720p High Definition.
If at any time you decide to tap on that gallery icon, you’ll be taken to the last taken image/video with the following UI:
You have the file name, time and place on a bar on top, and a back button, favourite icon, share icon, delete icon and options key on a bottom bar. Tapping the image in the center once, puts it into fullscreen mode so you dont have to look at these bars and buttons if you dont want to.
Tapping on the options key gives you the ..uhh… options you see in the screenshot above. You have the ability to set the image as a wallpaper, start a slideshow, edit, etc. You can even view or add tags to the image to make it easier to find.
Tapping the Share icon though, takes you to a nice little share view, where you can choose to share the image to Facebook, by Bluetooth, NFC, MMS, Email, or any accounts you’ve added to the N9.
Sadly Twitter was missing from the list though.
So yes, that’s basically the Camera UI on the Nokia N9 and a quick peek at the gallery. Now let’s move on the Camera Samples, shall we?
Note: I dont live in a very… picturesque neighborhood, so bare with my somewhat average camera samples this time around, eh? They’re good enough to give you an idea of the N9′s capabilities in daily usage though.
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And here’s a Video Camera Sample from the Nokia N9:
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Alright. So as you can see, the camera’s pretty okay. I’d say it’s above average, but the lack of a lens cover and the placement of the Camera itself, on the back, means you’ll end up covering it with your fingers when making a call or generally using the device. This means there’s almost always finger grease on the lens, give tends to make night pictures a bit too blurry.
Another issue I had with the N9 is that sometimes it focused almost instantly. But at times it took a while. Similarly with colors, sometimes it was right on cue, but often images turned out a bit gloomy.
Still, in terms of camera quality, I’ll stick with saying its above average. Not great, but definitely better than most of the mobile cameras out there. Maybe I’m just too darn used to the Nokia N8. I’ll give it one thing though, I love the camera UI. Sure I really miss having a hardware shutter key, but you gotta admit, in terms of the Mobile Camera UI’s out there, the N9 isnt half bad at all.
Clinton is currently based in New Delhi, India and is executive editor for UnleashThePhones. He is responsible for all editorial decisions, and covers all forms of Mobile and mobile-related accessories.
Cj is addicted to caffeine, social media, and technology. Always up for a good conversation, you can reach him through the contact form, his website, on Google Plus 
or on Facebook or Twitter: Follow @clintonjeff
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