I've noticed many of my photos are more blurry than I would expect for new pixels (series 6 and up), which are supposed to be known for their amazing cameras. Does the app have a big part in determining the image quality, and if so can anyone recommend an excellent camera app?
The camera lens hardware is obviously the same as stock, so would there be any difference?
You can use Pixel Camera on GrapheneOS if you want and you'll get the same quality you'd get on stock OS with it.
K8y Our Camera app does support HDR+ on Pixels along with Night mode. It's not quite the same. Some people prefer the more natural look of pictures from our app and others prefer Pixel Camera. Pixel Camera does have a lot more features but we're working on improving our Camera app.
matchboxbananasynergy You can use Pixel Camera on GrapheneOS if you want and you'll get the same quality you'd get on stock OS with it.
Thanks, GrapheneOS & matchbox. It looks like there are a few official pixel camera apps by Google on Google Play (Pixel cam, pixel cam services etc...) Which one do you recommend? A link would be helpful.
Are the official pixel can apps secure & private? One of them boasts about AI. Will it push AI into my system?
Pixel Camera by Google LLC
K8y One of them boasts about AI. Will it push AI into my system?
Your phone is already full of AI. Some of the most basic things are machine-learning/AI-based like the auto-brightness functionality. But do not fear, AI is not a bad thing per se. It can mean a lot of different things. You will not be able to get around AI if you own a phone or computer.
K8y Pixel Camera only uses entirely local machine learning models other than the Video Boost feature which is very explicit about the fact that it's not a local feature. AI doesn't mean anything more than it using approaches like neural networks.
Snibby AOSP auto-brightness is unfortunately not actually a decent ML model yet but rather legacy code we'll probably need to replace with something better. Stock Pixel OS has Pixel specific code for that.
GrapheneOS Pixel Camera only uses entirely local machine learning models other than the Video Boost feature which is very explicit about the fact that it's not a local feature. AI doesn't mean anything more than it using approaches like neural networks.
Well said!
GrapheneOS AOSP auto-brightness is unfortunately not actually a decent ML model yet but rather legacy code we'll probably need to replace with something better. Stock Pixel OS has Pixel specific code for that.
Sounds great! I'm looking forward to the day I don't have to manually set the brightness to zero every evening when the light is turned off. But it's only a minor annoyance, I can well see that it's probably not a high priority. But very good to see that it's noted down, thanks :)
GrapheneOS that's great to hear. I downloaded the regular pixel camera and was happy to discover I didn't need to download the additional google pics storage app as it tried to tell me it was required, since I see photos from both the graphene camera and Google pixel camera all get put into the graphene gallery.
My only concern is having Google Pixel stock camera app now (which is a bit sharper) on my profile, but I hope its accesses are much more restricted in grapheneOS. The idea of stock cameras being remotely turned on, or the app seeing my photos, really bothers me.
K8y My only concern is having Google Pixel stock camera app now (which is a bit sharper) on my profile, but I hope its accesses are much more restricted in grapheneOS. The idea of stock cameras being remotely turned on, or the app seeing my photos, really bothers me.
If one believes a specific app plausibly is malicious, it is not prudent to run it on a device one wishes to be secure. Serious malware researchers do not deliberately run malware on devices holding their family photos, e-mail, whatever, and in fact do not deliberately run malware on their regular infrastructure (home network, personal SIM card, etc.).
At some point one needs to choose which is more likely: either Pixel Camera is a legitimate camera app written by a large company which values its public reputation (that's my guess), or Pixel Camera deliberately contains code for being remotely activated to spy on users (I seriously doubt it).
If one believes the second scenario is likely and one is serious about security and privacy then it is difficult to see how "sharper" pictures would justify accepting malware onto any device with important content.
Personally I would be shocked if Pixel Camera contained malicious remote-activation code. Of course it's technically possible, but lots of nightmare scenarios are technically possible. To live in the world it is necessary to rank hypothetical threats and to press on despite the theoretical existence of implausible hypotheticals.
other8026 can use the quick settings tile to make it so no apps can access the camera.
How does one access this "quick settings tile" to block apps accessing camera?
Thank you to you, De0u and GrapheneOS for helping non-tech experts. Btw I've been reading up a bit on the usage guide here:
https://grapheneos.org/usage#updates-settings
Also I seem to remember someone here pointing out another official graphene resource forum for questions, but can't seem to find or recall that thread. Is there another? There's certainly room to grow!
How does one access this "quick settings tile" to block apps accessing camera?
Settings> Security & privacy> Privacy control> Camera access
or - if you want to access them frequently:
Swipe down status bar twice (or double down once (swiping with two fingers) which opens the full quick settings tiles), click pencil icon to edit quick settings tiles and put Camera access (and maybe Mic access) where you can reach them easily.
This blocks access to camera in general. If you want single apps not to access camera - long press App Info app you want to restrict> Permissions> Camera> Don't allow / ask every time
