espite the lavish praise
the Google Nexus line received thanks to its openness to development,
the smartphones have received much criticism for their camera prowess.
That changed (though
some would argue it hasn’t) with the release of the
Google Pixel and
Pixel XL,
however, as Google took a more consumer directed approach to their
smartphones and the results showed in the camera department with the
smartphones receiving top tier scores from
DxOMark.
Part of Google’s more recent success with picture quality has been
thanks to their amazing HDR+ technology that is exclusive to their
smartphones. For the average user, HDR+ presents an incredibly easy way
to produce stunning photographs without the need to learn
manual photography or
edit RAW images. And now, you can take advantage of
Google Camera’s HDR+ thanks to a modified version of the APK ported to work on
any device with the Hexagon 680 ISP (found on the Snapdragon 820, 821, and 835 SoCs).
The Google Camera app is no stranger to being modded. A popular
Zero-Shutter Lag (ZSL) HDR+ mod of the app brought the Google Pixel’s picture taking speed to the Google
Nexus 5X and
Nexus 6P, and a
quick modification
that we did brought Google Camera 4.2, taken from the Pixel’s Android
7.1 Nougat system dump, to the last generation Nexus devices. But it’s
not typical that you see a Google Camera modification make its way to
other, non-Google branded devices. Even rooted users with
Magisk
installed are unable to enjoy the full advantages of Google Camera
HDR+, but thanks to some recent developments that will change.
Modded Google Camera 4.4 with HDR+
A Ukrainian developer by the name of
B-S-G on
the forum 4PDA has posted a modified version of Google Camera
v4.4.012.156195200. This Google Camera app is the same one pulled from
the third Android O Developer Preview that was released in June of this
year. The developer was able to modify it to work with any device that
utilizes the Hexagon 680 ISP or above, which includes those devices with
the Snapdragon 820, Snapdragon 821, or Snapdragon 835 SoCs.
I have personally tested this application on the following devices and have confirmed that it works:
The modified Google Camera app with HDR+ support does indeed seem to
work with Google’s HDR+ technology, as the notification that the app is
processing HDR appeared after each picture and there was a clear
difference in the pictures after it was done processing.
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