A Look Into: Google’s New & Improved Official Camera App

For any smartphone user, no matter which mobile OS you are on, the camera app is one of the more oft-used apps. Many of us opt for third-party camera apps because they are more solidly built than what the stock apps have to offer. But now, Android users may want to reconsider trying out the new and improved Google camera app, just released in the Play Store. If you cannot download the app via Play Store, download the APK file directly here.

It’s better, sleekier and has a few pretty cool feaures you would want to try out, like Lens Blur and Photo Sphere. And better yet the official Google Camera app is no longer confined to Nexus and GPE (Google Play Experience) devices only. You can run it on any Android device running KitKat 4.4 and above.

Recommended Reading: Top 20 Android Photography Apps

New & Upgraded Features

The previous stock Camera was found wanting both in design and functionality, so this new Camera app is definitely a long-awaited improvement. Most of the app functions as a typical in-built camera app but what distinguishes this new revamped app from the previous version is the updated Photo Sphere and the new Lens Blur function. Let’s check out what this app has to offer.

Lens Blur

Lens Blur is finally here, a feature that allows your device camera to focus on a target while having the background blurred out. This is a common feature found on Single-Lens Reflex (SLR/DLSR) cameras, and it’s now available via this app.

In Lens Blur mode, you just have to shoot the subject, then slowly raise the device while keeping the subject in the center of the frame. The app will help guide you through the process with on-screen instructions.

You can adjust the blur level after you have captured the shot. The blur level will only focus on blurring the blackground, not the subject. That will happen as long as the camera can tell the difference between your subject and the background.

Photo Sphere

This one is an app that will give the panorama mode a run for its money. It’s far from a new feature but you’ll definitely love playing around with it once you get the hang of it.

The moment you fire up Photo Sphere, you will notice 4 dots on the four sides, left, ride, up and down, after you make a snapshot. These dots are there to help you focus your device camera to create the perfect Photo Sphere. Shift your camera to align with the dots and the app will help you stitch the images together. How far can you go with this? A full 360 degrees!

There’s more, the new Photo Sphere can now capture up to 50 megapixels, providing more details in your photo sphere picture. Here is an example.

Other Features

There are a few other minor tweaks to some of the other features, namely:

Improved Panaroma – The newly improved Panaroma mode, allows you to capture the full width of a scene in higher detail.

Google Says No To Vertical Video – Don’t you hate it when you take a video that ends up in the wrong orientation? Unlike photos, videos can’t be rotated just as easily. This Camera app will remind you to rotate the device when you try to capture a video in vertical mode. You can ignore the warning and still record your videos this way, but do reconsider by watching this video first.

Better Interface – Did the previous Camera app frustrate you with its interface? Fret no more. Features are now labeled properly, taking out most of the guesswork. Instead of the old sliding arc controls, the Camera features are now presented nicely in a menu by swiping to the right and by tapping on the menu button at the bottom right.

Conclusion

Like any other app, there are still a few drawbacks to this app. For instance, when taking a photo in Lens Blur mode, your photo will be automatically reduced to around 1024×768 resolution – the image quality will take a hit.

But if you need more motivation to try this app out, know that the Android Police have torn down the APK and found out that in the near future, Google will update the app to include Photo Sphere Live Wallpaper, Advanced Camera, Time Lapse, Wide Angle Mode, and much more.

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Google Glass Gets KitKat Support And Improved Photo Browsing, Loses Video Calls

Anybody will be able to buy Google Glass tomorrow, but ahead of this, Google is giving the Glass software an update. There are a couple of new features in this update, including new tools for making working with photos easier, but Google has also decided to remove the option to do video calls from Glass for the time being.

Google says video calls from Glass didn’t live out to the company’s “high standards.” Only about 10 percent of Glass users currently use them, and because of this, the Glass team has made “the hard decision to remove video calls from Glass until the experience is better.”

It’s unclear when this feature will return, but Google tells Glass users to keep an eye out for video-streaming apps in the MyGlass app library for third-party solutions. Given that video calls from Glass were always one of the device’s marquee features, it does come as quite a surprise that Google would remove this, even if just a few percent of its current users use it. 

As for the photo updates, Google now finally bundles photos together so when you scroll through your timelines, it’s not cluttered by lots of photos, and the photos you take are easier to find. Glass now bundles all your videos, photos and vignettes into a single bundle for each day. If you take a lot of photos on Glass, that’s definitely a major improvement.

Despite losing the video calling feature, Hangouts on Glass are still an option for chats, and with this update, Google now allows users to more easily send photos in Hangout messages.

Other new updates include a voice command menu that’s now sorted by frequency and recency, as well as the ability to more easily send feedback about Glass right from the device.

According to Google, there are a few more features in this update, too, but it hasn’t updated its Glass Journal blog yet. We will update this post with a list of all the new features as Google makes this information available.

An improved version of Google Drive's spreadsheets webapp, simple called Sheets, is now rolling out

An improved version of Google Drive's spreadsheets webapp, simple called Sheets, is now rolling out to all users. Improvements include offline editing, better speed, support for larger spreadsheets, and a variety of other small features. Read more here.

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Mozilla’s Australis Design And Improved Sync Come To Firefox Beta 29

A day after releasing the stable version of Firefox 28, Mozilla today launched the first beta version of Firefox 29. While there wasn’t all that much interesting in Firefox 28, the latest beta version represents a major step for Mozilla. It includes both the new — and very Chrome-like — Australis design, as well as support for Firefox Sync, Mozilla’s cloud-based syncing service with end-to-end encryption.

The new design will likely be a bit controversial with long-time Firefox users. It’s quite a departure from earlier versions, with rounded tabs and a menu that’s now behind the same kind of “hamburger menu” as Chrome’s. I’ve been running the Firefox Nightly releases and Chrome side-by-side lately, and sometimes I get confused about which one I’m using — that’s how similar they look.

What Firefox is keeping, though, is the extra search box, which most other browser vendors have done away with. You can always remove it, though, and just use the URL bar to kick off your searches, too, just like in Chrome or the latest versions of Internet Explorer.

That kind of customization is also at the core of Mozilla’s thinking here. The organization thinks of Firefox as a browser you should be able to customize for your needs and to do this, the beta features extensive and easy to find customization options. Earlier versions of Firefox had similar features, but they were often hidden away a bit and most mainstream users never found them. With the Australis design, customization is now front and center.

The design also puts an emphasis on simplicity. Tabs that aren’t currently active blend into the background, for example, and unless there is a page to go forward, the design simply hides the usual arrow buttons. Tabs now also sit higher up in the browser, so you get a few extra pixels of screen real estate for the sites you are looking at.

If you want to give the new beta a try, you can download it here for Windows, Mac and Linux.