Camera Zoom FX for Android Gets a Major Update

Every phone today comes with a camera, including even the most basic handsets.  But if you use a smartphone, be it Android, iPhone or Windows Phone, then you have a lot more choices because there are camera apps that improve on the built-in  feature set and add different types of functionality.  I have a weakness for camera apps and one of my favorites happens to be Camera Zoom FX.  Over the past couple of days a major update has been rolling out to all of the users of the app.

Camera Zoom FX packs in a lot of features, including 6x zoom, burst mode with up to 10 shots per second, silent camera, support for a front-facing camera, timer, integration with Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and other services, as well as a lot more.  The update adds plenty of new features, but also there is better support for Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and also for tablets.

Features in version 4.0

• Brand new UI
• Portrait mode
• Faster
• Brightness, exposure
• Iso, metering
• Horizon indicator
• Stable indicator
• Golden spiral grid
• New timer UI
• Pinch zoom
• Set review durn
• Prevent screen timeout
• Light leaks + bokeh
• New frames: elegant
• Gallery to view, share and delete
• Video switch
• H/w acceleration
• Support for xhdpi
• New custom actions
• Facebook sharing
• Flip photo
• Only new permission is to prevent wakelock
• Dropped 1.5 support

The app isn't free, but the $2.99 price tag isn't particularly high given the feature set.  Plus there are a number of add-on packs, such as Props, Frames, Composites, Shutter Animations and more, and all of these packs are free.  It carries an overall 4.4 rating from users, but it's still probably not the only camera app that you will want on your phone.  For instance, Camera Zoom FX doesn't do HDR images.  For that you may want to grab Camera 360 or Pro HDR Camera.  It also doesn't excel at time lapse, but that's a specialty thing and you will probably want an app like Lapse It Pro along with a special tripod made for phones.

On the whole, Camera Zoom FX is worth the $3 it will set you back and the new updates bring a vast amount of improvements to the app.  The add-on packs set it apart from other camera apps and, given that they are all free, make this a great value for any Android user.