Microsoft releases Blink Lens app with burst mode for Windows Phone 8

Microsoft has released a new Lens app for Windows Phone 8 devices. The app, named Blink, is available on the Windows Phone Store for free. It gives the camera burst mode capability. According to the description of the app, it captures a burst of images before you even press the shutter, and continues to capture pictures after you've taken your shot.

Here is the complete description of the app: “With BLINK for Windows Phone 8, you'll never miss the best shot. BLINK captures a burst of images before you even press the shutter, and continues to capture pictures after you've taken your shot. It’s no problem if you press the shutter a few seconds too early or too late. With BLINK, a simple finger swipe lets you find the perfect shot. Advanced image stabilization technology from Microsoft Research removes camera shake and lets you focus on the important parts of the scene.”

The Blink lens essentially lets users take many photographs in the span of a couple of seconds and pick the one they find to be the best of the lot. This is not different from the burst mode in the camera of higher end devices such as the HTC One X+ and the Galaxy S III.

While the lens has received praise from many users, some still have their misgivings about it. According to some user reviews on the Windows Phone Store, the pictures taken through the Blink lens tend to be of a lower quality compared to those taken without any lens. Some users have also reported on a bug that makes images appear skewed when being edited. Considering that this is the first release, though, it's likely that Microsoft will solve a lot of the problems with the lens in future updates.

Lenses basically work like addons to the Windows Phone 8 camera app. They allow you to do a number of things, ranging from having instagram-like filters to giving you the ability to take pictures in panorama mode. With the addition of the Blink lens taking the WP8 camera closer to that of high-end Android devices, one can venture a guess that a lens that gives the ability to take pictures in HDR (high dynamic range) lighting is not too far off.