14 DAY TRIAL // The portrait mode on the new Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL devices is one of best features we’ve seen in 2017, and it looks like now we can use it on other phones as well.
It's well known that Google has gone to great lengths to keep the new camera application and all of its features, such as AR Stickers, Motion Detection, and a few others compatible only with the Pixel 2 phones. At the very least, Google didn’t really put any effort into porting most of these features to older devices.
To be fair, users of Nexus 5x, Nexus 6P, and Pixel XL did get AR Stickers and a couple of other features, but most of the cools stuff remained on Pixel 2. Fortunately, this is Android, and there are a lot of developers capable of porting either the application or the features, and this is precisely what we got with the excellent Camera NX from Charles Chow. Others took his work and improved upon it.
Little difference from original app
Just by looking at the new app, GCMod5, it would be hard to tell that it’s not the original one. All the features that we love, such as Portrait Mode, Motion Photos, and even HDR. If anything, there is actually more available in the port since users can choose between various HDR settings.
This latest Camera NX mod was developed by Arnova8G2, and it looks like he managed to iron out pretty much all of the problems. There are still a few issues to fix. For example, the screen goes dark when the phone is processing the HDR and Portrait effects. Also, it might crash from time to time, especially if you’re messing with an unsupported HDR more.
The best part about Arnova8G2’s port is that it doesn’t even require root or any other kind of shenanigans. Just load the APK and install it. The application has the name GCMod5, and it will be available in app drawer.