Your laptop computer’s built-in webcam doesn’t maintain a candle to one of the best Android telephones on the market in terms of 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 might be often plug-and-play. That’s why we have been initially excited to see that Google is bringing native webcam performance to Pixel telephones with an upcoming Android 14 replace. Nonetheless, after really making an attempt it out for ourselves, our pleasure has waned.
These of you who’re operating Android 14 in your Pixel telephone is likely to be 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 underneath the hood is kind of difficult, however all you actually need to know is that it turns your Android telephone into an ordinary USB webcam that the majority PCs operating Home windows, macOS, or Linux will acknowledge. All you must 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 must 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 provide a preview of the video feed, allow you to alter the zoom stage, and alter which digital camera 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 incorrect with Google maintaining Android 14’s webcam characteristic easy, as a result of most Android telephone cameras can deal with typical dwelling workplace lighting eventualities simply superb. However there does appear to be one thing incorrect 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 may very well 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 instrument’s digital camera 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 ensure that neither Google Meet nor my Pixel 8 Professional have been the problems right here, I additionally examined my Pixel 6a, Pixel 6 Professional, and Pixel 7 Professional on a separate PC, with completely different cables, and in Zoom and OBS Studio as properly. The outcomes have been constant: Android 14’s webcam characteristic provided considerably inferior video high quality in comparison with Camo and scrcpy. I recorded a few movies regionally by way of OBS Studio and uploaded them to YouTube in case you need 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, actually. After 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. After I switched to utilizing scrcpy as my webcam in episode 19, nonetheless, my co-hosts may undoubtedly inform there was an enormous enhance in high quality.
You may suppose that growing the webcam high quality to 4K30 like I did once 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 digital camera mirroring characteristic at 4K30 for an hour and famous the battery stage and temperature of my Pixel 6 Professional.
After an hour, the battery stage solely dropped 5%, and the temperature solely reached 36°C. After I recorded this knowledge once more over the two-hour interval that the podcast was recording, the battery stage solely dropped 6%, and the temperature solely reached 37.3°C. The exams I ran have been removed from scientific and, after all, have been depending on the system I used and the ambient temperature in my recording surroundings (~23°C). Nonetheless, I believe I’ve demonstrated that thermal/battery issues aren’t actually at difficulty right here.
When Google’s personal advertising tries to promote the concept that Android 14 will allow you to use “your epic Android digital camera” as a “lovely webcam,” I believe it’s truthful to have excessive expectations. I believe 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 ought to be an wonderful one.
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I’m not precisely positive what the difficulty 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 system’s digital camera, in spite of everything. My hope is that Google simply selected somewhat aggressive compression settings in order that customers on much less steady or slower networks received’t face points throughout video calls.
I mentioned earlier that I don’t suppose there’s something incorrect with Google maintaining issues easy. Nonetheless, I believe Google ought to not less than present an possibility to make use of higher-quality settings, maybe with a warning that these settings may trigger the system 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.