Quickly snap a photo using a widget from the homescreen of the Galaxy S2 Camera: A comparison

Capturing an event, a scene, or action shot, as it happens, is one of the most useful things to be able to accomplish. Having a good quality camera phone (that you are sure to have on hand) can help.  I've looked at android applications for taking a rapid burst of images in a previous post. Here I look at 3 applications available that allow you to almost instantly take a photograph by pressing an icon on your homescreen. This is particularly revelevant for the Galaxy S2, as it does not have a dedicated camera button.

You'll notice that these apps are marketed as spy apps, as they emphasis silent shutter shooting. However, it is equally useful to be able to effortlessly capture a photo by pressing an icon on your homescreen, rather than launching the camera app and taking a photo.

One Shot Silent Camera

One Shot Silent Camera

A nice widget that takes a third of a homescreen image, with a button to take a photo, preview shots, and snap a photo. In settings you can choose 'Shot Count' as well as 'Brightness' and 'Timer'. My issue with this app is that it shoots in low resolution 480x640, and doesn't have options for 'Flash' or 'Focus'. The paid option has enhanced features for 'Shot Count' and 'Brightness' etc.

Camera Widget

'Camera Widget' allows you to place a small icon on your homescreen (you can choose from a range of icons). You can choose whether to autofocus or otherwise. Upon pressing the icon, it takes a photo within a few seconds, and displays a preview window (from a range of choices) as it does so. I like that this Camera app will take photos at full resolution but like the previous widget, it does not have flash option.

Snap Camera Pro

'Snap Camera Pro' is a fully featured camera app which also as a 'quick snap' widget. The widget takes I res photos but does not take flash photos. However, once you take a photo with the widget it quickly previews the photo and launches into full camera mode, which is almost as useful. This costs just 70 cent in the market and has filter settings as well as 'multi shot' feature. Because of this, this would be my winner out of the three apps reviewed!