Sony Xperia S review

Want a full HD camera? You got it. In fact, we'd go so far as to venture that Sony has put more effort into the video capabilities of the Xperia S than the stills camera.

First of all, there's none of this paltry scene mode rubbish that we saw in the last section – there are loads on offer here from landscape to beach to party and so on.

As you'd expect, you can choose what size video you want from a list of options though HD won't be easy to send to others because of the sheer file size. But if you want to keep them on the phone, you're sorted and as we keep on saying, that screen is amazing for watching footage.

Face detection extends to the video camera as does the ability to adjust things like exposure levels, white balance and metering. By default, the image stabiliser is turned on though we must admit that we weren't massively impressed with our footage feeling like it suffered a certain Titanic-esque choppiness.

Sound is reproduced well and we had no issues with audio at all. And shot in broad daylight, the video camera held its own well. Even in the dark, we were impressed.

We put it to the test by firing it up in a dark room and then whacking on a 12-light chandelier at full pelt to see how it coped. After the initial second where it looks like a nuclear explosion, the camera was focussed and metering was spot on. Definitely one of the better ones we've tested.