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Video on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is captured in glorious 1080p Full HD and looks fantastic on that screen. It's not amazing when transferred back to a computer, but it's not so bad that you'll want to throw the handset under a bus.
For some reason, Samsung has seen fit to include more customisation options within the phone's video player than the actual camera. In here, there are scene modes, time-lapse options and some rather strange effects that look like they've been created after one too many jugs of Scotch.
We're not exaggerating. We're talking making your background look like you're in space or framed by a sunset. Or at least, that's the plan. But it just looks like a bit of a mess.
It's not all bad news though - for example, going from darkness to bright light is handled exceptionally well. And sound quality is reproduced well on top of that.
For a point and shoot or casual video-maker, this is a passable effort. But if you're one of those people hoping to replace your Flip HD or digital camera with your smartphone's camera, you'll be sorely disappointed in this.
Footage taken in bright daylight is clear, and sound is well reproduced. The video camera seems capable of following quick moving subjects with little effort.
You can shoot video with the light on or off. Shooting with it off in dimly lit conditions is a bit hit or miss, but going from darkness into bright light is handled very well indeed.
The option to make your background look like you're in space is either psychedelic or psychotic. We can't work out which. We'd have been much happier if Samsung and Google had spent more time working together to create a better camera app than messing around with pointless tweaks like this.
More usefully, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus comes with a 'Movie Studio' app, which lets you edit clips together, add a title and add various effects such as sepia or negative to clips you've already shot. It's pretty basic stuff, but a lot more welcome and useful than the silly effects built into the camera.
