I also use GraphenOS and the regular google camera app, everything except the AI features works , and the camera quality is on par with what I got while using the Stock OS for a day (it was also one of my biggest fears, that the Camera quality would be worse, that's why I compared it).
I've tried the Graphene Camera app, but to be honest the UX is a bit janky, but I think the image quality is basically the same.
You can use most of the AI features if you install the relevant apps. Certain things can't work without privileged access we don't provide, but we do allow Google apps to use non-standard TPU acceleration by default with a toggle for people who don't want it.
> I've tried the Graphene Camera app, but to be honest the UX is a bit janky, but I think the image quality is basically the same.
It has HDR+ and Night mode. It's largely the same image quality. Pixel Camera has a lot more overall features and fancier HDR+ features. The UI in our app has gotten significantly better. Make sure you're using Latency mode to match what Pixel Camera does rather than Quality mode which purposely delays capturing until focus lock.
> Make sure you're using Latency mode to match what Pixel Camera does rather than Quality mode which purposely delays capturing until focus lock.
Aah okay that's what this toggle means, thats definitely better.
But my biggest gripes with the GrapheneOS camera app are:
1. The Zoom slider: You can't select the different lenses easily (I'd need to set the zoom slider to exactly 5x to get the zoom lens without digital zoom, which is not that easy) and there is no way to quickly reset it to 1x. I also think the position for this slider would be better at the bottom (where most other camera apps put it)
2. The brightness and zoom slider are rather hard to hit, I maybe have a bit too fat fingers for these? (The brightness slider also does not seem to work in night mode) I also can't see the zoom/brightness values while sliding and the Google Camera App allows for more smoother/finer control.
Same with the little arrow in the top left corner, it always takes like 3-5 hits to open the menu. Never had this issue in the Google Camera App.
3. I need to use the QR Code mode to scan qr codes. I did bind the Google Camera app to double click the power button so I can easily take pictures and scan QR Codes, without the need to tap anything else. But It's definitely a cool feature that the GrapheneOS camera can scan many more Code Types and also that the GrapheneOS Camera removes exif data by default
4. The mode slider at the bottom doesn't let me scroll further than one mode, this means I'd need to swipe thrice to get to the QR Code mode from the Video mode (or tap twice) because when in QR Code mode I can't see the Video mode and vice versa
5. I currently tested it out for writing this comment and my phone definitely got way warmer than when using the Google Camera App. And it used 5% Battery while being active for 7 minutes. EDIT: very weird it did now vanish from the Battery Usage list in the Settings, and in the App Info it also says it did not use any battery since the last full charge (It did before)
6. I think it does not support the Astrophotgraphy (Tripod) mode for the Night Mode.
These are all not huge issues and most people who just want to quickly take some pictures are probably not really bothered by this. But I use the Phone Camera very often (its even one of the reasons I went for the Pixel 8 Pro instead of the normal 8, to get the extra zoom lens) so these issues made me install the Google Camera App.
> 1. The Zoom slider: You can't select the different lenses easily (I'd need to set the zoom slider to exactly 5x to get the zoom lens without digital zoom, which is not that easy) and there is no way to quickly reset it to 1x. I also think the position for this slider would be better at the bottom (where most other camera apps put it)
That's not what the zoom buttons do in Pixel Camera and it doesn't switch at exactly the telephoto magnification zoom value but rather adjusts when it switches based on the available light because the telephoto camera can't handle low light as well. We could add 1x for going back to 1x but you can already easily zoom out to the ultrawide and the telephoto is more complex than people realize. You can see it often doesn't actually switch at the minimum.
> 2. The brightness and zoom slider are rather hard to hit, I maybe have a bit too fat fingers for these? (The brightness slider also does not seem to work in night mode) I also can't see the zoom/brightness values while sliding and the Google Camera App allows for more smoother/finer control.
>
> Same with the little arrow in the top left corner, it always takes like 3-5 hits to open the menu. Never had this issue in the Google Camera App.
You can swipe down for settings and can swipe left/right between modes. The arrow is mostly to imply that you can swipe down. We do plan to change the overall layout and sliders/buttons a bit.
> 3. I need to use the QR Code mode to scan qr codes. I did bind the Google Camera app to double click the power button so I can easily take pictures and scan QR Codes, without the need to tap anything else. But It's definitely a cool feature that the GrapheneOS camera can scan many more Code Types and also that the GrapheneOS Camera removes exif data by default
You can open it via the standard Android QR scan quick setting if you use it a lot.
> 4. The mode slider at the bottom doesn't let me scroll further than one mode, this means I'd need to swipe thrice to get to the QR Code mode from the Video mode (or tap twice) because when in QR Code mode I can't see the Video mode and vice versa
We can consider adjusting changing modes.
> 5. I currently tested it out for writing this comment and my phone definitely got way warmer than when using the Google Camera App. And it used 5% Battery while being active for 7 minutes. EDIT: very weird it did now vanish from the Battery Usage list in the Settings, and in the App Info it also says it did not use any battery since the last full charge (It did before)
It shouldn't consume more power than Pixel Camera. Don't know why that would be the case. It does do things a fair bit differently. CameraX is improving which brings improvements to our app without us having to do much and we implemented some things ourselves like the parallelized image saving in the background.
> 6. I think it does not support the Astrophotgraphy (Tripod) mode for the Night Mode.
> That's not what the zoom buttons do in Pixel Camera and it doesn't switch at exactly the telephoto magnification zoom value but rather adjusts when it switches based on the available light because the telephoto camera can't handle low light as well.
Ooh TIL, thank you, I just tried it out, that's definitely a bit confusing. Would it work to just have 2/3 buttons that switch between the cameras? Or is this not possible (because you need to supply a zoom level)?
> You can swipe down for settings and can swipe left/right between modes.
That works definitely better!
> It shouldn't consume more power than Pixel Camera. Don't know why that would be the case.
Will keep an eye out on this, but after quickly testing the few things you mentioned in your comment my phone already got a bit warmer.
> We'd need them to add this to the extension API.
I've tried the Graphene Camera app, but to be honest the UX is a bit janky, but I think the image quality is basically the same.
Relevant Link: https://grapheneos.org/usage#camera