Your laptop computer’s built-in webcam doesn’t maintain a candle to the very best Android telephones on the market in relation to video high quality, which is why many individuals use their Android telephone as a webcam for his or her PC. The one drawback with this method is that it’s not as handy to arrange, which is why most individuals accept exterior webcams which can be normally plug-and-play. That’s why we had been initially excited to see that Google is bringing native webcam performance to Pixel telephones with an upcoming Android 14 replace. Nonetheless, after truly attempting it out for ourselves, our pleasure has waned.
These of you who’re working Android 14 in your Pixel telephone is perhaps a bit confused as a result of this native webcam performance is nowhere to be discovered. That’s as a result of it’s solely included within the Android 14 QPR beta releases proper now. The best way this characteristic works below the hood is kind of sophisticated, however all you actually need to know is that it turns your Android telephone into a typical USB webcam that almost all PCs working Home windows, macOS, or Linux will acknowledge. All it’s a must to do is join your telephone to your PC by way of USB, pull down the notifications panel in your telephone, open the USB preferences web page, after which change the USB mode to “Webcam.”
You don’t have to tinker with any settings or set up any extra software program in your telephone or PC; your telephone will simply seem as an “Android Webcam” in video conferencing software program like Google Meet or Zoom. Android 14 does supply a preview of the video feed, allow you to alter the zoom degree, and alter which digicam lens is used, however you don’t get any of the myriad of controls provided by third-party webcam software program like Camo.
I don’t suppose there’s something flawed with Google holding Android 14’s webcam characteristic easy, as a result of most Android telephone cameras can deal with typical house workplace lighting situations simply advantageous. However there does appear to be one thing flawed with the way in which Google arrange the characteristic within the first place, as a result of for some motive, the video high quality is considerably worse than what it might be.
For instance, listed here are some screenshots from a Google Meet name the place I used Android 14’s webcam characteristic, Reincute’s Camo app, and the scrcpy device’s digicam mirroring characteristic on my Pixel 8 Professional. Android 14’s webcam characteristic doesn’t allow you to select the decision or body fee, although because it maxes out at 1080p 30fps, I used that decision and body fee in Camo and scrcpy.
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Simply to make certain that neither Google Meet nor my Pixel 8 Professional had been the problems right here, I additionally examined my Pixel 6a, Pixel 6 Professional, and Pixel 7 Professional on a separate PC, with totally different cables, and in Zoom and OBS Studio as nicely. The outcomes had been constant: Android 14’s webcam characteristic provided considerably inferior video high quality in comparison with Camo and scrcpy. I recorded a few movies domestically via OBS Studio and uploaded them to YouTube in case you wish to see how dramatic the distinction in high quality actually is.
I’d be mendacity if I mentioned Android 14’s webcam characteristic is unusable — removed from it, in actual fact. Once I used it on my Pixel 6 Professional to file episode 18 of the Android Trustworthy podcast, none of my co-hosts or viewers members complained about my video high quality. Once I switched to utilizing scrcpy as my webcam in episode 19, nonetheless, my co-hosts may undoubtedly inform there was a giant increase in high quality.
You would possibly suppose that rising the webcam high quality to 4K30 like I did after I recorded episode 19 of Android Trustworthy would trigger my Pixel 6 Professional to overheat and lose a ton of battery even when plugged in, however that truly wasn’t the case. Earlier than the present, I ran scrcpy’s digicam mirroring characteristic at 4K30 for an hour and famous the battery degree and temperature of my Pixel 6 Professional.
After an hour, the battery degree solely dropped 5%, and the temperature solely reached 36°C. Once I recorded this information once more over the two-hour interval that the podcast was recording, the battery degree solely dropped 6%, and the temperature solely reached 37.3°C. The checks I ran had been removed from scientific and, in fact, had been depending on the gadget I used and the ambient temperature in my recording setting (~23°C). Nonetheless, I feel I’ve demonstrated that thermal/battery issues aren’t actually at challenge right here.
When Google’s personal advertising and marketing tries to promote the concept that Android 14 will allow you to use “your epic Android digicam” as a “lovely webcam,” I feel it’s honest to have excessive expectations. I feel most individuals are simply so accustomed to mid-tier webcams and video conferencing software program compression that the bar has been set so low for what makes a “good” webcam. My $1,000 Pixel 8 Professional shouldn’t simply be a good webcam; it needs to be an superb one.
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I’m not precisely certain what the problem is with Android 14’s webcam characteristic, however I’d be shocked if it’s one thing Google can’t repair. It’s not like Camo or scrcpy are doing something particular to enhance video high quality when utilizing your Android telephone as a webcam — they’re utilizing the identical API (Camera2) to entry the gadget’s digicam, in any case. My hope is that Google simply selected moderately aggressive compression settings in order that customers on much less secure or slower networks received’t face points throughout video calls.
I mentioned earlier that I don’t suppose there’s something flawed with Google holding issues easy. Nonetheless, I feel Google ought to at the very least present an choice to make use of higher-quality settings, maybe with a warning that these settings may trigger the gadget to overheat or degrade the battery longevity if used for a protracted interval. As a result of as of proper now, I can’t advocate utilizing Android 14’s webcam characteristic over third-party options.