So...any news on a better camera software???

[rodclement]

Am I the only one dissapointed with this?

[MrGibbage]

No, it's been discussed to death here. Did you buy the camera because you thought it had a good camera?

[rodclement]

no, I just think that a modern phone with a 2 megapixel camera should be able to take pictures of at least insurance worthy quality, as it is now you are lucky if you get a non-blurried picture outdoors with full sunlight!

Furthermore a company like HTC has already learned how to do this well in it's other phones and Google should be able to improve on what has been delivered so far.

If the camera sucks so bad it shouldn't be advertised as a feature, I just want a functional as advertised product, is that too much to ask for?

Other than that I have no issues with my phone, my battery life is excellent, my WI-FI never goes down, my 3G is available everywhere, and my apps never crash...what is there to worry about? : )

Rod

[MrGibbage]

It's actually a 3 megapixel camera, I believe. Yeah, a lot of people have complained about the poor quality of the camera. There's definitely two sides of the fence here. One side buys the phone and oh! It has a camera!?! Oh, that's nice. Glad to have it. The other side expects high quality and performace. I could go either way, but I lean toward the side that I bought it for a phone and open source operating system first. I have other cameras to do my picture taking.

[rodclement]

I hear you and I agree entirely, just frustrating to not be able to pull my phone out and snap a picture of my son on a whim without having to be outdoors in sunlight you know...otherwise the pluses in this phone are far greater than the minuses.

[MrGibbage]

That's the way I look at it too. I understand that different people have different priorities. That's cool. That's why I have thousands of dollars of camera equipment. I wouldn't expect everyone to go out and buy a similar setup (nor would I want them, since I make money off that equipment). Do I *wish* it had a better camera (for the same price)? Sure. Who wouldn't? That's a dumb question, if you think about it. But there had to be tradeoffs to keep the price manageable. For me it worked out. For others, they may have wished they left the compass out in favor for a better camera. I get it. So they hit the sweet spot for me, but you know there's no pleasing everyone. I say try to make the best of your phone (which it sounds liek you are) and enjoy what you have, which is clearly the biggest and best phone to hit consumers ever. And it *will* get better. Just wait.

[theycallmeVosko]

It's actually a 3 megapixel camera, I believe. Yeah, a lot of people have complained about the poor quality of the camera. There's definitely two sides of the fence here. One side buys the phone and oh! It has a camera!?! Oh, that's nice. Glad to have it. The other side expects high quality and performace. I could go either way, but I lean toward the side that I bought it for a phone and open source operating system first. I have other cameras to do my picture taking.

thats a good way of lookin at it, except that when i bought my phone i bought it for ALL it can do. i didnt buy it so that i had useless features on the phone. thats like buying the best pc and but comes with a blurry moniter u cant make out anything on it. u bought the pc it happened to come with a free monitor but now its useless becuase it all dont work together.

[Robocop]

Seems to me, some of us are forgetting (or never knew) we are the early adopters of this OS and as such we have to have the one thing that is not required of most other smartphone buyers: Patience! You can bet Google is hearing our cries and working on improving the product. To do otherwise is just bad business and counterproductive. Let's all take a break from asking for more and take time to count our blessings (It is tthe holiday season and all). And if nothing is changed January 1st, let all pissed off, hungover Androidiacs complain away!

[ministersin]

My issue is that the camera does suck. Any beta tester should have been able to see that.

Why put it on if you know it sucks? They had to know it sucked.

I mean it's like having a built-in massager on the feature list and saying, well first turn your phone to vibrate. Then call your yourself.

I mean sure it's vibrating...but is it really massaging?

[Robocop]

That's just it..........we are the beta testers!

[atoy74]

Look, call it what it is, the camera sucks and always will. This goes for any camera phone. Have you ever seen the actual camera hardware in these things? They are tiny little things with zero optics. A megapixel is just the size of the captured image but the optics are what actually give you the quality.

Just compare your basic point-in-shoot camera and look at the lens. How are you going to fit that into a phone.

[MrGibbage]

I've been wondering about this: is there a camera phone that is actually regarded and known for having a really good camera. I'm quite sure that whatever phone/camera you reply with will not live up to my standards, but that's just because I'm a part time professional photographer. But I'd like to know what theoretically could be expected. And atoy74 is correct--it's NOT about the megapixels. They could make the megapixels any size they wanted in the camera. It's the optics that make the difference. So if you have seen or heard of a camera phone with a Really Good camera, post the info here.

[jrokwitdacapitals18]

The camera is what makes a good phone .

[ayo991]

I had a Sony Ericsson W960i and it took better pictures than my Sony DSC-T1 and that phone is smaller than the G1. So it is possible.

[Shel]

What I want to know is, why can't I make phone calls with my Canon 20D???

I mean, sure, it takes great pictures... but NO Phone calls???

What's the deal??? Anyone else upset that their high end camera doesn't allow you to make phone calls???

I mean, hey... I paid BIG BUCKS for this camera.

[MobileMan]

For me I like using the camera on my Dash. I had well over 200 pics with it. Its convenient to have a phone and a camera. There has been times where I was out and needed to take a pic quick and my Dash came in handy. Now the G1 was supposed to have a better camera with more MP but I doenst hold a candle to my Dash. So I had Santa (LOL) get me a digital camera (10MP) so I can take pics. Now I have to carry a camera and a phone around instead of a all in one.

[rodclement]

Letls not get carried away here, I donlt expect a canon d20 in my phone but a decent saveable image would be nice, as it is itls useless

[sbig79]

Actually the camera is not that bad, it just the shutter speed is very slow, if the shutter speed would have been faster, it would take more. That is why after you press to take a pic, you cannot move the phone to much if not as we all know, the pic is blurry.

[MrGibbage]

What I want to know is, why can't I make phone calls with my Canon 20D???

I mean, sure, it takes great pictures... but NO Phone calls???

What's the deal??? Anyone else upset that their high end camera doesn't allow you to make phone calls???

I mean, hey... I paid BIG BUCKS for this camera.

LOL. Seriously. Now the people in my office are looking at me. Again. Thanks. I've got to stop reading this board at work.

[Cranky Bear]

The way I see it, if it doesn't have a flash (which you should have known before you bought it), you should immediately assume that it's not the best camera. Second, there are phones out there with 8MP cameras. 3MP is better than the iPhone, but otherwise is still not that great in comparison. This is meant to be a bonus feature simply because it would be ridiculed beyond belief if it DIDN'T have a camera at ALL. It works well enough indoors for ShopSavvy, though. :)

[rodclement]

so in other words...I have a phone from 2008 with slower shutter speeds then a pinhole camera, we are first generation beta testers (not getting payed), and I should be happy that if Mr. Google is really nice we might get a better software version that will allow this camera to be competitive with a 1920 argus "brick" camera?

Oh...why didn't I think of that a long time ago! Maybe if we put a rotary dial on it we might be really happy! Wait, why don't we change the touch screen for a stylus system? That would make me even happier!

Again...I am not asking for shutter speeds to compete with a high end DSLR, or any other features for that matter, but a modern phone should have a workable camera..is 1/125 shutter speeds at an ISO of 100 too much too ask for? Hell as it is now we are looking at 1/60shutter speeds wich makes it basically useless indoors unless your name is tripod, and the lag time between pressing the "shutter" and recording the picture is as quick as drawing the scene myself : ).

I just want to be able to snap a quick snapshot of my son when he does something funny at McD's, on a whim by just grabbing my phone and clicking it...my DASH could do that over two years ago, hell my RAzor could do that 5 years ago...

Rod

[jrokwitdacapitals18]

The way I see it, if it doesn't have a flash (which you should have known before you bought it), you should immediately assume that it's not the best camera. Second, there are phones out there with 8MP cameras. 3MP is better than the iPhone, but otherwise is still not that great in comparison. This is meant to be a bonus feature simply because it would be ridiculed beyond belief if it DIDN'T have a camera at ALL. It works well enough indoors for ShopSavvy, though. :)

Every camera phone should have flash period. Stop sticking up for the poor design.

[s15274n]

I think I just heard the Wwwwaaaaaahhhmbulance.

The phone takes GREAT pictures outdoors and works indoors assuming there is adequate light. I'm glad there is no flash to be honest as any person who is "serious" about photography never even uses flash unless their doing pro head shots, and I hope you dont rely on your PHONE for this task.

[rodclement]

I think I just heard the Wwwwaaaaaahhhmbulance.

The phone takes GREAT pictures outdoors and works indoors assuming there is adequate light. I'm glad there is no flash to be honest as any person who is "serious" about photography never even uses flash unless their doing pro head shots, and I hope you dont rely on your PHONE for this task.

Man... don't want to judge what you consider a great picture, as for the adequate indoor light...maybe we are talking about a room with about 1000 watts of Metal halide lights? Serious photographers do rely on flash photography more than can be stated or you think that weddings, product photography, model work, etc is just for amateur photographers?

Come on let's be real the camera in the G1 sucks! Let's not make this into another the G1 is the best thing ever discussions! I LOVE the phone, my question was simple, has anyone come up with a better software? Or if I am the only unhappy customer here?

[jrokwitdacapitals18]

I think I just heard the Wwwwaaaaaahhhmbulance.

The phone takes GREAT pictures outdoors and works indoors assuming there is adequate light. I'm glad there is no flash to be honest as any person who is "serious" about photography never even uses flash unless their doing pro head shots, and I hope you dont rely on your PHONE for this task.

But with flash u can take pics in the dark. But without it , it will come out like the crappy g1 pics in dark. This is the worse camera on a phone out of the 2 I had.

[Stewartwi]

The lack of a descent camera is about the only fault I really have with the G1 at the moment. Well, that's not entirely true I have others but it's one of the main ones. I'm coming from a Sony Ericsson K790a phones and it had a 3.2 MP camera in it as well but also had a flash and it was excellent I miss that phone for the camera alone.

[kaysesoze]

Yeah the camera is not the greatest, but it does take some great pics in good lighting indoors and out. But remember that this is a phone first then a camera. If that was the case nikon or canon would have made the g1...
For good pics learn how to have a steady hand or use the trackball to snap the pic, or carry a real camera with you, they have some good digi cams on sale for about 60 buck anywhere.

[kaysesoze]

Yeah the camera is not the greatest, but it does take some great pics in good lighting indoors and out. But remember that this is a phone first then a camera. If that was the case nikon or canon would have made the g1...
For good pics learn how to have a steady hand or use the trackball to snap the pic, or carry a real camera with you, they have some good digi cams on sale for about 60 buck anywhere.

[atoy74]

What I want to know is, why can't I make phone calls with my Canon 20D???

I mean, sure, it takes great pictures... but NO Phone calls???

What's the deal??? Anyone else upset that their high end camera doesn't allow you to make phone calls???

I mean, hey... I paid BIG BUCKS for this camera.

LOL! Exactly...

[d0nkey]

everyone knows its a phone first, nobody is arguing that. but the bottom line is the camers sucks. there is no point of having this terrible camera on this phone. I would rather the hardware be removed for something useful. the only thing this camera can do is read barcodes and it does that rather poorly as well.

[TMOG1]

Actually the camera is not that bad, it just the shutter speed is very slow, if the shutter speed would have been faster, it would take more. That is why after you press to take a pic, you cannot move the phone to much if not as we all know, the pic is blurry.
Is that something a software update could fix or is that a hardware problem? Don't mind not having the flash except it was cool for a flashlight if anything. I hate how long and steady you have to hold it

[Onlychevy6]

yeah the camera feature is real weak... takes to long for it to snap a picture. quality wise i am happy with if i can stay steady long enough.:rolleyes:

[ministersin]

I can't believe people keep saying, oh if I wanted a camera I would get a DSLR....

Look man...my $39 phone took better pictures than this phone.

I do not expect DSLR quality. I expect, if a camera is advertised, I should be able to take a decent picture of a friend to use as my icon for them. That's all.

And this camera WILL NOT do that under standard indoor lighting conditions.

Period.

To justify the poor build quality of the camera by saying it is a phone first is fanboy b/s.

I LOVE the phone. I use it everyday. I don't have ANY problems with my phone at all.

But I NEVER use the camera because it CANNOT take decent pictures.

Why put it there if it is useless.

And we call ourselves beta testers all day long, but SOMEONE had this phone in their hands for months (maybe even a year) before we ever touched it. And SOMEONE had to notice that the picture quality was horrible and let it slide for whatever reason.

[rodclement]

I can't believe people keep saying, oh if I wanted a camera I would get a DSLR....

Look man...my $39 phone took better pictures than this phone.

I do not expect DSLR quality. I expect, if a camera is advertised, I should be able to take a decent picture of a friend to use as my icon for them. That's all.

And this camera WILL NOT do that under standard indoor lighting conditions.

Period.

To justify the poor build quality of the camera by saying it is a phone first is fanboy b/s.

I LOVE the phone. I use it everyday. I don't have ANY problems with my phone at all.

But I NEVER use the camera because it CANNOT take decent pictures.

Why put it there if it is useless.

And we call ourselves beta testers all day long, but SOMEONE had this phone in their hands for months (maybe even a year) before we ever touched it. And SOMEONE had to notice that the picture quality was horrible and let it slide for whatever reason.

AMEM! My point exactly!

[jrokwitdacapitals18]

AMEM! My point exactly!

Amen too bro. Couldnt have said it better. But no matter what we say , there's going to be fanboys that will stick up for the phone no matter what.

[eosrider]

Can we just start deleting these repeat posts, at this rate i can see many days without this great forum due to capacity over loads and having to restructure ****.


If you want something better on your new phone, MAKE IT!
Want to know how to make it?

there are a few ways.

1. http://www.google.com (from your desktop)

2. m.google.com (from your handset)

3. The search bar widget on your home screen (also on your handset)

Start developing.
Make a Difference.
Stop Spamming.
Nuff Said.

[elingreen]

I'm an avid food blogger, i had the Dash for over a year and took about 1100 pics with it. At the time, it was the best camera phone i've had, even though it lacked a flash.

I've had the G1 for just over a month now and while the lag on the shutter sucks donkey tits, the picture quality is much nicer. The macro focus on the G1 is so much better than the Dash and iphone, you cannot ignore that.

So i agree with some of you that, yes the G1 has a crappy shutter lag and makes quick shots a nightmare, but it does actually take a much nicer picture than the Dash and iphone.

Here's a link to some pics i've taken with the G1 over the last month.
http://picasaweb.google.com/elingreen/G1Pics#5273056358962358434
*i do have a real camera for pictures, but my phone is the best backup*

[ministersin]

I'm an avid food blogger, i had the Dash for over a year and took about 1100 pics with it. At the time, it was the best camera phone i've had, even though it lacked a flash.

I've had the G1 for just over a month now and while the lag on the shutter sucks donkey tits, the picture quality is much nicer. The macro focus on the G1 is so much better than the Dash and iphone, you cannot ignore that.

So i agree with some of you that, yes the G1 has a crappy shutter lag and makes quick shots a nightmare, but it does actually take a much nicer picture than the Dash and iphone.

Here's a link to some pics i've taken with the G1 over the last month.
http://picasaweb.google.com/elingreen/G1Pics#5273056358962358434
*i do have a real camera for pictures, but my phone is the best backup*


They are great pics. After the terrible accident your hands have been replaced by robot tripod fingers, so it's hardly fair to make a comparison :)

[elingreen]

They are great pics. After the terrible accident your hands have been replaced by robot tripod fingers, so it's hardly fair to make a comparison :)


the secret is, i stopped doing meth about 8 years ago :D

[s15274n]

http://doogs.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/whambulance.jpg

[KingOctopus]

Methinks if everyone unhappy with the phone knew how to develop software to improve it then they probably would. Of course they probably wouldn't release the app for free so the "G1 camera sucks" post would continue until the paid apps were more prevalent.

I think most of the people complaining would be happy with a mediocre camera. The G1's camera is subpar. Manipulating lighting is a chore at home it's downright difficult if not impossible when one is out and about. Trying to get a subject to stand still for the 20 minutes or so (I kid, mostly) it takes the phone to focus and finally take the picture only to get photos that look like stills from a Japanese horror movie kind of sucks. Of course, it would behoove anyone taking serious or important photos to use a dedicated camera but when it's a chore just to do something an inferior phone like a RAZR can easily do then people are going to complain and probably have that right.

It's called an opinion. We're all still entitled to one last time I checked.

[henchman]

The phone takes GREAT pictures outdoors and works indoors assuming there is adequate light.


No it doesn't.

get your eyes checked.