Next up in our Google Nexus One micro-reviews is the handset’s camera and multimedia capabilities. It’s no secret that Android’s Achillies heel is multimedia: speciality Android cameraphones are still few and far between, and video support has hardly been universal. Can the Google Nexus One change that? Read on and find out in our review…

First up, the camera. The Google Nexus One isn’t the first HTC Android phone to pack a five megapixel camera – there’s the Hero – but it’s just about the company’s best so far. That’s not saying a great deal mind, as despite the sharp resolution (5MP is enough to print off and keep at 6×4 inches), the pictures they’ve produced have been flat and washy.

As you can see in these sample shots though, the Google Nexus One doesn’t fare too badly in the daylight. There’s nothing particularly sharp about the snaps we took, there’s far too much white, and they certainly don’t compare to Sony Ericsson and Nokia’s best shooter phones, but they’re not as woeful as on some other smartphones. There is a flash on the phone, but don’t expect to get anything decent from it indoors – we couldn’t.

Video recording at 720×480 with the Google Nexus One is reasonable: it’s not sharp, but it is smooth, and will definitely cover you for most spontaneous moments you need to film, so long as they’re not in a nightclub.

The camera software itself is fairly well executed on the Google Nexus One however. We like the still and video camcorder toggle on the screen, and it really does focus and process photos very quickly. There are no ISO options, as with some phones, but otherwise it’s very intuitive.

As for multimedia? Unfortunately, the Google Nexus One makes few improvements on previous Android phones here. It’s fine for music, so long as you’re OK with dragging and dropping your MP3 files rather than iTunes syncing, and the headphone slot is well placed on the top of the phone.

But while the AMOLED screen makes pictures look glorious, we still see the same stuttery video playback we’re used to on the Hero. You probably won’t want to watch a full length film on here: if you want an AMOLED phone that can cope, and play AVI and MP4 video files, the Samsung Jet is top of our list.

There is a glowing, silver lining however with the Google Nexus One, if one that’s true of all Android phones. If you subscribe to Spotify, you can embed a control widget on the phone’s homescreen, and better yet leave it on in the background, both things you can’t do with Spotify for iPhone. There’s also beebPlayer, the unofficial BBC iPlayer Android app, and it works superbly on the Google Nexus One.

For all but the biggest of media hoarders, the slick screen and perfectly fine music playback skills will be enough to please with the Google Nexus One. For hardcore song fans though, or shutterbugs who really don’t have the pocket space for a camera too, it still might be worth looking beyond Android.

YOU NEED TO READ – Google Nexus One vs Motorola Milestone vs Sony Ericsson Xperia X10