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Iirc the issue comes down to Android. Until very recently there was not real uniform api for accessing the camera between Android versions and the tweaks hardwa
by Crosseye_Jack 8y ago
Iirc the issue comes down to Android. Until very recently there was not real uniform api for accessing the camera between Android versions and the tweaks hardware vendors make. Basically it was much easier to screenshot the live preview then access the raw camera data.
This changed a couple of versions a go and if you used SnapChat on the pixel 2 it used the new APIs instead of taking a screenshot.
But I can’t comment persoanally on the quality of snapchats pictures as I’ve never used it.
- repolfx 8y agoHuh? There has been a camera API since the very first release of Android and it's been systematically updated for the entire history of the platform. What do you mean by "real uniform API for accessing the camera", exactly?
- Crosseye_Jack 8y agoWhat I mean is snapchat was having issues with using the camera API in android across the variety of devices when they first ported the app to Android (2012 iirc) so they took "the easy route" and captured the still from the live preview instead. The API would work for some devices but not others (I remember other camera app's having similar issues around the same time, mainly not being able to tweak the camera settings within 3rd part camera apps) so basically they said "fuck it" and took the easy path and it just stuck around. I believe since Lollipop they have been using the new camera API for Android.