Unless you were to buy an absurdly precious webcam, there’s a good chance the camera quality of the Android smartphone you formerly enjoy blows your PC’s webcam out of the water. That’s why numerous people use their smartphone as a webcam, which is easy to do thanks to third- party webcam apps. With the Android 14 QPR1 update for Pixel phones, Google made it indeed easier to do this by erecting USB webcam support right into Android.
While Android’s webcam point is super accessible to use since it does n’t involve downloading a specific app, it unfortunately leaves a lot to be asked . When Android Authority’s Dhruv Bhutani tested it against the iPhone Continuity Camera, he was especially disappointed regarding videotape quality. He said that the videotape quality when using his Google Pixel 8 Pro as a webcam was “ enough medium ” and “ nowhere near as good as the iPhone. ”
In my own testing, I set up that the videotape quality when using Android 14’s erected- in webcam point was significantly worse when compared to third- party webcam apps running on the same device. This meant that the issue was n’t with the phone but with Android’s webcam point. My proposition is that Google optimized the Android 14 webcam point for long- term abidance at the expenditure of videotape quality. This is unfortunate because some videotape calls might be short, and some phones can handle outputting advanced- quality videotape for long durations.
Fortunately, Google seems to have realized that some druggies want advanced- quality videotape from their smartphones, which is why it’s added a new High Quality Mode to Android’s webcam point.
Android 15 High Quality Mode webcam point
When you enable the USB webcam point in the rearmost Android 15 inventor Preview 2 release, you ’ll see a new “ HQ ” symbol located at the top left wing. Tapping this enable the new High Quality Mode, which disables any power optimizations that Google made under the hood for the webcam point.
Still, also it may be worth keeping High Quality Mode impaired for longer videotape calls, If you ’re looking to maximize battery life. For what it’s worth, however, I ran with High Quality Mode enabled for a videotape call that lasted nearly two- and- half hours, and my Pixel 8 Pro’s battery temperature only reached a peak of37.6 degrees Celsius(
100 degrees Fahrenheit) Plus, the battery position only dropped by 8 during this time. I was using a slow USB2.0 string connected to a wharf, however, so it’s possible the temperature would have risen indeed more with a briskly bowl( and equally, the battery drain would have lessened or halted).
Still, also I ’m happy to report that it does in fact, relatively significantly, If you ’re wondering whether High Quality Mode actually improves videotape quality. I recorded the wholeness of occasion 35 of the Android Faithful podcast using my Pixel 8 Pro as a webcam with High Quality Mode enabled. I also recorded a quick videotape, bedded below, that compares the quality of Android’s webcam point with and without High Quality Mode.
In our view, Google should have included this High Quality Mode option from the progeny- go, but it’s better late than today. Will you try out Android’s USB webcam point now that Google has added the HQ mode? Let us know in the bean below.
