Which reasonable (off-contract) Android has the best camera?

All of those are out of my range. Basically, I'm asking for opinions on last year's models that should be considerably less. For example, would an S3 be competitive with the 4S... or an HTC One S... or a Sony Xperia S??? These are all sub $300. She's not into having the biggest screen or the wildest specs (she's perfectly happy with her 4S when its not being goofy lol) - I told her multiple times to get a Nexus 4 while they were $199 but she wouldn't hear of it (hates the camera in mine).

Just pull up a review on the S3 and see if it holds up. Also, head to the store and take a few snaps with the prospective unit.

I have an older HTC One with the 8MP camera and it was good enough for me to leave my camera at home during trips. But that one cost too much a month so I moved back to a contract Android phone and bring a real camera.
Bob

... if only stores put more REAL phones on display. :-D Seems everywhere I go (Best Buy, Walmart/Target, etc.) that all they have on display are "dummy" phones. How am I supposed to check THAT out? I was actually reading the S3 review when I saw your response. It looks promising; I've read good things about the Xperia S, too? Ever had hands/eyes on with its camera?

OK thanks. Feel like I've found some pretty good help on this. Combining terms on Google (duh), I found CNet's own comparison of the Xperia S and the 4S (Xperia was no match, basically). So now it's between the S3 and the One X - I'll let the boss decide and go from there. Thanks for your help!

The reason many locations do not have "live" models anymore is due to theft and damage of the display units. Gets too expensive to have to replace those phones at a certain point. Dummy phones are much cheaper if they need to be replaced. Don't blame the store due to user abuse/theft of the display models.