Android 15 is fixing one of the worst parts of the Pixel’s webcam feature

Until you had been to purchase an absurdly costly webcam, there’s a great probability the digicam high quality of the Android smartphone you already personal blows your PC’s webcam out of the water. That’s why many individuals use their smartphone as a webcam, which is straightforward to do due to third-party webcam apps. With the Android 14 QPR1 replace for Pixel telephones, Google made it even simpler to do that by constructing USB webcam help proper into Android.

Whereas Android’s webcam characteristic is tremendous handy to make use of because it doesn’t contain downloading a selected app, it sadly leaves lots to be desired. When Android Authority’s Dhruv Bhutani examined it towards the iPhone Continuity Digital camera, he was particularly disillusioned relating to video high quality. He stated that the video high quality when utilizing his Google Pixel 8 Professional as a webcam was “fairly mediocre” and “nowhere close to nearly as good because the iPhone.”

In my very own testing, I discovered that the video high quality when utilizing Android 14’s built-in webcam characteristic was considerably worse when in comparison with third-party webcam apps operating on the identical system. This meant that the difficulty wasn’t with the cellphone however with Android’s webcam characteristic. My idea is that Google optimized the Android 14 webcam characteristic for long-term endurance on the expense of video high quality. That is unlucky as a result of some video calls is perhaps quick, and a few telephones can deal with outputting higher-quality video for lengthy durations.

Luckily, Google appears to have realized that some customers need higher-quality video from their smartphones, which is why it’s added a brand new Excessive High quality Mode to Android’s webcam characteristic.

Android 15 Excessive High quality Mode webcam characteristic

While you allow the USB webcam characteristic within the newest Android 15 Developer Preview 2 launch, you’ll see a brand new “HQ” image situated on the prime left. Tapping this allow the brand new Excessive High quality Mode, which disables any energy optimizations that Google made beneath the hood for the webcam characteristic.

For those who’re seeking to maximize battery life, then it could be price maintaining Excessive High quality Mode disabled for longer video calls. For what it’s price, although, I ran with Excessive High quality Mode enabled for a video name that lasted practically two-and-half hours, and my Pixel 8 Professional’s battery temperature solely reached a peak of 37.6 levels Celsius (~100 levels Fahrenheit). Plus, the battery stage solely dropped by 8% throughout this time. I used to be utilizing a gradual USB 2.0 cable related to a dock, although, so it’s attainable the temperature would have risen much more with a quicker charger (and inversely, the battery drain would have lessened or halted).

For those who’re questioning whether or not Excessive High quality Mode really improves video high quality, then I’m comfortable to report that it does — in truth, fairly considerably. I recorded everything of episode 35 of the Android Trustworthy podcast utilizing my Pixel 8 Professional as a webcam with Excessive High quality Mode enabled. I additionally recorded a fast video, embedded beneath, that compares the standard of Android’s webcam characteristic with and with out Excessive High quality Mode.

(Word: I manually enabled the characteristic to acquire this footage, however the characteristic is reside as of Developer Preview 2.)

In our view, Google ought to have included this Excessive High quality Mode choice from the get-go, nevertheless it’s higher late than by no means. Will you check out Android’s USB webcam characteristic now that Google has added the HQ mode? Tell us within the ballot beneath.