With the release of Nokia’s first Windows Phones just a few days away, we’ve been getting hands-on with the latest features of Windows Phone 7.5 Mango, to find out just what it will be bringing to Nokia handsets in the coming weeks. Today we’ve been looking at the Windows Phone camera app.

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Once the Windows Phone camera app is launched, you’re presented with a clean and clutter-free interface, letting the viewfinder fill the screen. In contrast to Symbian’s option-heavy interface, it makes it easier to get started and lets you focus on getting the best shot lined up through the lens.

The only onscreen options you see in the Windows Phone camera app are a small button for Settings, one to switch to video recording and two for zooming in and out. Pressing the Settings button then lets you choose whether to enable or disable the built-in flash, as well as access more advanced settings.

While Symbian’s camera app takes two clicks to access the camera’s main settings, the one-touch access provided by Windows Phone is welcome. The settings appear in a smoothly animated list that sits on top of your camera’s viewfinder and you can then scroll vertically through the seven available options.

The settings you can choose from include the options to change the default photo resolution; to add effects to your photos, such as grayscale and sepia tone; and also to choose from a range of default camera settings, including Sports, Beach and Candlelight, letting you get the best shots with minimal effort.

Once you’ve got your settings how you want them on your Nokia Windows Phone, you can then save them to memory by tapping More > Save Settings, so that you don’t have to change them again. And if you make any mistakes, you can return the Windows Phone camera app to its default settings just as easily.

To take a picture, you then just line up the image in the viewfinder and tap the screen to click the shutter. We’re sure that some, if not all, of the new Nokia Windows Phones will also feature a dedicated hardware shutter button on the chassis, but we’ll have to wait until next week to find out for sure.

Once your picture is taken, another smooth animation in Windows Phone 7.5 moves the image to the top of the screen, where it sits in a slim notification bar ready to be viewed. As soon as you’ve taken all the pictures you want, you just tap on the notification bar to be taken straight to your camera roll.

From here you can again tap the More button to see all the usual features you’d expect, including the option to set the image as your wallpaper, delete it or share it with your friends via text message, Facebook or Windows Live. And in a truly unique feature, Windows Phone 7.5 Mango even lets you tag your photos from directly within your phone before uploading them.

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Making it nice and easy to capture and share your memories, the Windows Phone 7.5 Camera app is sure to be a favourite for photographers when the new range of Nokia Windows Phones arrives next week. We’re already hooked and we can’t wait to see just how well it’ll work when paired with the latest Nokia hardware.

We’ll be bringing you more Windows Phone 7.5 guides each day, showing you all the great new features that will soon be coming to Nokia Windows Phones, so why not let us know what you’re most looking forward to seeing and if there are any features in particular that you’d like to know more about?