The GE A735 had quite an adventure when it turned up to ours.  Luckily for it, the festive season had just started and so it had quite an extended stay with us.  It was even a happy party colour – Pink!  Yours doesn't have to be pink however, as the A735 comes in a range of colours including black, silver and green.  The A735 turned out to be a very good camera for such a busy season, however we did end up with an unfortunate anomaly.

The A735 is very easy to use.  Forget the instructions as I don't think anyone actually looked at them until the A735 had already been out once or twice.  If you just want to 'point and shoot' this is camera that even the biggest novice would love.  If you like to get all techy then the manual is there, however be aware that the manual isn't specific for the A735.  As well as the general manual, there are also smaller manuals to help you set up quickly and to explain some of the A735's other features such as Smile Detection.

Smile detection fascinated me and I was so thrilled that it actually works.  I tried it on my friends, strange people on the street and once home alone, I tried it on myself using a mirror.  To set it up is as easy as putting the A735 on the right setting, pointing the camera and waiting..  The moment the camera detects a smile (with teeth) the photo is taken.  It is such a lovely idea.  Probably not so lovely for the people who live around me, but would be a nice feature to have for happy celebrations and family photos.

The quality of the photos is amazing.  I took it down the High Street one night in order to photograph the annual Christmas displays.  I don't think I'd realised until I got home and uploaded the photos onto my laptop, just how clear and detailed the photos were going to come out.  A lot of my images were taken at night, with brightly lit neon lights and through glass.  Yet the images before me were outstanding, with barely a hint of any reflection.  The quality didn't diminish in the least once we began zooming in on my images.  Later when I tested the A735 in a dark room the impressive quality of the flash became obvious, bright enough to light up the whole room.  It almost made up for my disappointment when I noticed that the picture quality had dropped with the absence of light.

The A735 also has a huge 2.5" LCD screen in which to help you frame your picture.  The Camera itself is 7.0megapixels and runs on two AA batteries.  It has all the regular functions like Portrait, Panorama and Auto, plus a Movie setting with very faint audio.  Alongside that it also has Face Detection, Smile Detection and Blink Detection (which warns you when your subject inconveniently blinks).  According to the stats about 150 photos can be taken on a pair of AA batteries.  I assume that's true as I have yet to reach the 150 mark and the A735 isn't flagging at all.

I do have one glaring issue with the A735, the Stabilization Mode.  Whether it's a fault of our particular model or a design fault I can't be sure, but it is something that has defeated our team of reviewers.  Far from keeping the image steady, it instead seems intent on doing the exact opposite.  It's a disappointing blot in an otherwise very good little camera. 

So what are my final thoughts on the GE A735?  It's a very cute little camera and would be ideal for travelling, parties and family photos.  The picture quality is very impressive for the price tag, the phone seems sturdy enough for family life and the colour choices makes this a great gift idea for any budding photographer.  It would be a real shame if the issue with the Stabilization Mode was a model fault, however it is something I would be wary of if you've been eyeing up this camera for yourself.

The A735 retails between £45 - £60 and is available from Amazon, play.com and other online and independent retailers.

See www.ge.com/digitalcameras for more details