Whether the quality of your mobile photo is high, medium or low naturally depends a lot on the specifications of the smartphone camera, including lens quality, image sensor size, image stabilization, aperture, megapixels, etc. Still, apart from these hardware features, an important issue that companies usually either need to pay more attention to or perform satisfactorily in is the post-taking stage, i.e., photo software processing.
A powerful processor can upgrade a poor photo to average quality and turn a high-quality photo into a great one. The camera software can significantly help the hardware in many cases, such as reducing noise and recording details in low light so that the output of photographic work is acceptable. Specifically, in smartphones, due to the lack of space and the manufacturer’s inability to increase the sensor’s size, the main competition is in the improvement of photo processing. Years ago, Google, the giant of the technology world, realized this problem and took a step in the path that ended up inventing a method that was first used in its virtual reality glasses, Google Glass, and then in its phone, Google Pixel. In this article, while introducing Google’s innovative image processing technology, we will discuss how to use it in Android phones.
Since Google Glass had to be lightweight and wearable, it was impossible to make a bigger camera to solve the mentioned challenges. Therefore, Team X thought of a software solution to the problem. Therefore, a set of processing techniques under the name of computer photography was put on the agenda to improve the quality of the output image.
Mark Lowy, a faculty member at Stanford University in the field of computer science at that time, led this project. Therefore, the GCam team was formed in 2011 to improve the photo quality of mobile devices using computational photography methods. This team invented an image fusion method to find a solution for Glass. This method takes several photos consecutively, and the final high-quality image is obtained by integrating these photos. This technique improves details in dark environments and increases image clarity in bright environments; This means brighter and clearer images without using a larger sensor.
This term stands for Application Programming Interface. An operating system uses APIs to give different developers access to system parts for application use. From another point of view, this means that the operating system manufacturer can restrict and block access to certain parts of the system. In general terms, an API is a set of well-defined and defined communication methods between different software components of a system. With the API of the system components in hand, the programmer can create a better program by maximizing the system’s capabilities.
Of course, many second-hand phones were equipped with this possibility after receiving Android Marshmallow, Probably because companies needed time to understand the new functionality. Regarding the first category, it is not surprising that Google has equipped all its devices, such as the Nexus series and Pixel series, with camera2; This means that even if your Nexus phone were released before the release of Lollipop, it would still have full camera2 support by updating to the upgraded version of Lollipop. Nexus 6, 5X and 6P, and Pixel series phones all have this feature.
Regarding other manufacturers, such as Samsung, LG, HTC, Huawei, Sony, Lenovo, OnePlus, Xiaomi, etc., most have at least Full access to their flagships that have been released with Android Marshmallow. Some of them, like Samsung, activated camera2 in the Lollipop version. Samsung’s S series released an update for the S6, LG’s G and V series released the G4 and V10, HTC released the HTC 10, OnePlus released the OnePlus 3, and… started applying this API to their phone operating system. On the other hand, manufacturers such as Huawei, Huawei’s subsidiary Honor and Xiaomi still resist activating this possibility. Fortunately, in Android, there are always ways to manipulate its unofficial activation on phones that use Qualcomm processors.
By default, neither the operating system, the manual, nor the default camera app of your phone includes information about whether the phone supports camera2. Therefore, a side application should be used to know about this. According to the reviews, the Camera2 probe is one of the best applications that displays the access level separately for the primary and front cameras.
This application, developed by March Media Labs, has been tested on opposite phones and has performed satisfactorily. Therefore, you should download and install the mentioned application, which has many similar versions and even the same name in the Play Store.
After installing the app, run it to see the details of Camera2 support on your Android device. In addition, you will see information about the device model and the Android version it is running.
You will generally see two sections, Camera ID: 0 and Camera ID: 1, on the program screen, as shown in the image below. The first one shows information about the main camera, and the second shows the selfie camera’s status regarding the new API’s support level.
