14 DAY TRIAL // More and more people are rocking a smartphone these days, so it’s no wonder we have come to depend on our handsets for almost anything, including snapping pictures.
Even iconic photography gear makers like Canon and Nikon have seen their business threatened by the rise of the smartphone camera.
And with Android being the most popular and widespread mobile platform, a lot of smartphone photography enthusiasts were probably very excited about Android 5.0 Lollipop introducing the new Camera2 API.
But even if these improvements have been implemented by Google in the new soft, we shouldn't hold our breath for seeing this spring’s flagship handset models take advantage of them.
Critical features from Lollipop's new Camera2 API are missing from this spring's new flagships
The folks of SpectraStudy wanted to see whether the newest and hottest phones that got announced at MWC 2015 were touting important controls found in the new Camera2 API.
In particular, they looked at Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge and found that the two handsets did feature two important improvements: the capability to shoot in raw format (DNG) and access to control over shutter speeds.
Samsung is also offering a much more simple, user-friendly camera interface with tons of options, but these features are simply not there.
However, not all hope is lost. In an earlier piece this week, we showed you what the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge camera managed to produce in comparison to the iPhone 6 Plus.
In that particular story, we also mentioned that Samsung explained that the camera software pre-loaded on the initial batches of the new flagships wasn't the final one, so by the time the retail units finally hit the real world, the two Samsung phones might take advantage of all the right features.
Stock Android devices give us a glimpse of what the Camera2 API can really do
Going back to the current camera software on the new Samsung phones, the bottom line is that it has been found to be quite different from phones like the Nexus 5 or Nexus 6 that are equipped with stock Android 5.0 Lollipop (not Android 5.1 if you want).
Both handsets are capable of supporting full manual controls, including shutter speed correction, and can save full raw image files.
The Galaxy S6, however, doesn't offer that, nor does it allow manual white balance via RBG gains, custom color space conversion matrix, or non-fixed metering.
The same was found to be true for other smartphones running Android 5.0 Lollipop, including the HTC One M9.
HTC is also said to be facing some software issues, so the launch of its One M9 in Taiwan has been delayed for a few days. The company might use this extra time to add support for the new API.
Is there still hope for photography enthusiasts?
