After much speculation, Google has this morning released their stock camera to Google Play as a standalone App. It’s available to all devices running Android 4.4+ and it brings with it a brand new interface.
The Google Camera App offers the PhotoSphere experience which Nexus owners have enjoyed for years, but on any branded phone running a version of Android 4.4 and upwards. There’s a host of new features as well including the Lens Blur mode :
- Photo Spheres for immersive 360º views.
- Lens Blur mode for SLR-like photos with shallow depth of field.
- Panorama mode with high resolution.
- 100% viewfinder for getting the maximum resolution from the sensor (no dropped pixels).
- Updated UI that gets out of your way and is centered on an extra large capture button.
- Works on phones and tablets running Android 4.4+ KitKat.
One of the coolest things though is the icon that appears when you attempt to take video in portrait mode :
That’s right, it has an animated picture overlaid over your video reminding you to turn your phone sideways. Brilliant.
There’s no customer facing signs of any plugins or third-party support that’s been rumoured, but as a camera it works great and the interface looks pretty darned good.
We’ve tested the App out on the HTC M8 and the Galaxy S5, so we imagine the Moto G will be working quite well too. If you’re running Android 4.4, it’s available now in Google Play.
[pb-app-box pname=’com.google.android.GoogleCamera’ name=’Google Camera’ theme=’discover’ lang=’en’]
