Nexus 5 Software Update Coming Soon, Will Bring Fixes to Camera API

By Vincent Funaro, Christian Post Reporter Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Google promises to release a Nexus 5 software update in the near future that will bring fixes to the device's camera.

The company's representative Gina Scigliano recently spoke with CNET regarding issues users had with the camera and the development of a new software foundation for point-and-shooters on Android devices.

She confirmed that Google is working on a software update for the Nexus 5 camera that will be rolled out shortly. She also discussed the future of raw formats and burst mode in Android devices stating that they are already baked into the Android hardware abstraction layer (HAL), which is the part of the operating system that interacts with the actual hardware on the handset. Google plans to expose both functions with the Camera API in a future release.

"The core concept of the new HAL and future API is centered around burst-mode photography," said Scigliano. "The basic idea is instead of taking a single shot with a given set of parameters, you instead have the power to queue up a request to take multiple shots each with different parameter settings such as exposure gain. The camera subsystem captures the burst of shots, which can be subsequently post-processed by the application layer."

Google advertised the camera on the Nexus 5 to be an impressive component, however, its performance lacks in various areas since its release and the company attributes this mostly to software issues.

Google released the Nexus 5 smartphone at the beginning of this month and introduced Android 4.4, KitKat with the device. The smartphone functions as the successor to last year's Nexus 4 and features a larger screen, more powerful processor and a slightly redesigned exterior.