may be shifting its focus to Android’s camera abilities

BY GreenBot Staff

Published 1 Apr 2014

Samsung makes a big deal about it. HTC won’t stop talking about. Even Sony tout it. l of the Android manufacturers trumpet the enhanced camera capabilities of their flagship phones, for good reason: up until now, hasn’t made it enough of a priority. But a “sources aware of ‘s plans” tell Engadget that we should expect a shift in the coming months.

is apparently testing out its new camera application. It sports a new interface, a background-blurring effect for portrait shots (glamorous selfless, anyone?), improved panorama oto Sphere modes. is also allegedly fixing issues with its stock camera’s photo framing abilities opening the camera A for third-party filters, which would allow Android developers to create custom effects specifically for the stock camera application.

None of this has been explicitly confirmed, but with I/O fast approaching, we could assume we’ll hear more about it at the annual developers conference. That old adage, “the best camera is the one you have with you” rings especially true for smartphone users, with companies like Apple Nokia taking the cake for smartphone photography, probably wants consideration for it, too.

Engadget also notes that the new camera app will come as a separate app to help bypass the waiting period required by carriers manufacturers to test Android OS updates. It’ll be interesting to see if the app will exist alongside the br-specific camera apps from HTC, Samsung, Sony, et al.