Unfortunately, this is still the case with the latest GOS and Google Camera.

Not only picture processing in Portrait Mode, but when recording videos too - the viewfinder is not smooth enough when moving phone around. The overall interface is sluggish too - imagine Windows running without proper graphics card driver.

I believe it requires some library that is missing.

Stock GOS camera doesn't have that issue with video recording smoothness but lack of dedicated zoom buttons, night sight and portrait mode makes it too weak and limited vs Google Camera. Whilst daylight pictures are somehow comparable, night time pictures look awful vs Google Camera.

Its not only GOS camera - every single camera I tested just cannot match Google Camera's quality due to lack of API support.

Overall, this is the only major drawback for me. I literally cannot use the camera properly and in camera department it feels that I am using a phone which is 5 years beyond current generation.

My 2 years old Samsung blows it out of the water when it comes to camera capabilities.

Obviously, its not GOS issue as Google Camera is a third party app, but I still wonder if its somehow possible to fix this. After all, Pixel 6 users do not have this issue.

    Volen While I agree it would be nice to see the portrait delay resolved, we haven't had any issues actually taking pictures with it as is. The portraits do capture correctly, it simply takes a bit longer to process them for preview. Some have said this makes the camera unusable for them, which I struggle to understand.

    I haven't had any issues with the video viewfinder at all, everything feels smooth to me (smoother than any of my previous phones), but I am coming from older phones so maybe that's the difference.

        mythodical

        Obviously, camera usage is different per user (some users don't use this or that feature, some others don't bother - for example, I absolutely don't bother about Astrophotography or Cinematic recording but it doesn't mean these are not important).

        The fact is that many people do use these features and we can't just ignore the fact that these issues do not exist - camera is one of the major features of flagship phones and it should just work - especially, when it is mentioned in GOS FAQ that Google Camera does work. Many people use camera heavily on daily basis, taking multiple pictures pretty quickly, etc.

        At the end of the day, we are using a flagship Google phone not just an average cheap Android phone. Google Camera does work flawlessly in stock firmware so its not a hardware limitation.

        It simply shouldn't take over 40 seconds to process a portrait picture and all should be smooth like in any other modern phone. Try taking 3 Portrait pictures in a row - boom, Google Camera will stuck forever processing these pictures and won't take any more pictures until it will process all these but in stock OS it takes a blink of an eye to process so there are clearly issues that we cannot simply ignore.

        Imagine a prospective Pixel 7 Pro buyer - they have no idea Google Camera won't work as expected as it says in all GOS FAQs that it works with GOS services. They are buying the phone and then Google Camera doesn't work as expected. They will surely ask why this info was not acknowledged or provided in FAQs as otherwise they would not probably buy it, correct?

        I don't blame GOS at all as Google Camera is not their product (and GOS is a great OS!) BUT this issue is something that needs to be acknowledged and probably written in FAQ so that people will know what to expect before buying the phone (this is the reason of having a detailed FAQ).

        We can't just pretend the issue doesn't exist or exists like a very very minor bug - it is a major thing, indeed.

          • [deleted]

          • Post #19

          Is there a solution for this issue? I find it very annoying and awkward when I'm with friends.

            9 days later

            Yes Gcam on P7Pro is not a very good experience for me at all. I've been a GOS user for a while and this is the first time I've experienced such an awful experienced with Gcam and GOS. I hope it gets fixed. The GOS camera is just lacking in features for me. And yes don't even bother using Portrait mode. It freezes on me and just leads to frustration.

              Same issue here on my Pixel 7 Pro.

                bmisc

                Matth

                Folks, please go to the Github link above and report this to developers kindly.

                The more people will report, the more attention this will get and then hopefully one kind soul will pick this issue up and fix it.

                    I am having the same issue with the portrait processing time on my P7Pro. My Video is working fine tho - at least from my point oft view. Ill try to confirm the issue in github. Cheers.

                      • [deleted]

                      • Post #25

                      pecan Where do you guys see the portrait setting? Are you in GOS camera or google camera?

                          13 days later

                          I don't know if I'm way out to left field on this, but there was an sepolicy change needed for the Pixel 6[ Pro] in order to allow the camera software to access the DSP for accelerated image processing. Before that, the Pixel 6 was slow like is being reported in this thread.

                          Was that change incorporated in the Pixel 7? Has it been properly validated that it doesn't need some tweaking for the minor differences?

                          https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/227166806#comment8

                          Seems you were on the right track @abcZ
                          in this issue the problem is also very well explained about SELinux and a special sepolicy which is missing.

                          One GrapheneDev answered with "Won't Fix" because it can be an attack vector for them ;( ;(
                          https://github.com/GrapheneOS/os-issue-tracker/issues/1841

                          They think Google will fix it but I would not bet on that (they don't have sepolicy problems on their firmware).
                          For me this is unfortunately a dealbreaker against GrapheneOS on my new Pixel 7 Pro (that device was too expensive to not use the camera AND THE DSP to its fullest)

                            therealmarv Hmm, well unfortunately, "thestinger" is David Micay, who is in charge of GrapheneOS, therefore his position is absolutely authoritative.

                            I don't believe that it is likely to be fixed by google, their history suggests virtually no chance that they'll fix it.

                                therealmarv

                                Totally agree with your point. GOS is an amazing OS but one of the strongest points of Pixel 7 is its camera. Not having a proper camera means we are loosing a lot.

                                I already highlighted this above and will repeat that if its the case then it should be at least mentioned in official GOS FAQ that Google Camera will not work as expected. The FAQ currently says that Google Camera works fine but this is not the case for Pixel 7 devices and is misleading. Ultimately, someone will buy the phone thinking the camera will work as per FAQ and then will find out it doesn't and this will negatively affect GOS as people might try posting here and there on the web that there is a misleading promise the camera will work.

                                I think its necessary to update the FAQ to include this important information so that prospective users will be aware. Obliviously, the choice is ultimately up to GOS team but its my 2 cents.

                                abcZ

                                Agree too - I don't believe Google will fix it as they have no reason to. It seems we are pretty much stuck with an inferior camera... which is really a big shame!

                                      Do you think it's possible that this can be solved by a gcam mod?

                                        snowdonia

                                        I am not an expert in this but don't believe so as gcam still requires that sepolicy to communicate with hardware properly.

                                        I've tried a few gcam mods, all are suffering from the same issue.

                                        Not sure what the risks are to allow the sepolicy in question or at least provide that option to users so that they could enable it if they want to (accepting the possible risk factor).

                                        I was doing a photo session yesterday and the camera was so slow, especially when taking multiple pictures. My old Notes 10 Ultra blows it out of the water which is a huge shame.

                                          I also suffer from the same problem - really frustrating, as GrapheneoOS experience is really good otherwise...
                                          As GrapheneoOS developers probably won't solve that issue, like we have read on the GitHub issue - is there a way we can give this issue priority at Google?

                                            kruton

                                            This is N1 issue for me on Graphene now.

                                            I think contacting Google is a good idea but its probably should be done by someone who is far more knowledgeable as they could explain the exact issue to Google?