Database Develop

[WIP] New Gallery Application

Hey everyone,
After wrestling with the HTC Album for a while, I've got tired of it not doing what I want it to do and have therefore started developing my own. I'm still in the algorithm writing stage but it's coming along very nicely as yet.
Here's some of the features that I'm planning:
Database Backend - This will be extensible through the use of 'tagging'. You will be able to add an 'infinite' number of tags to each photo.
UI - Will allow swiping through pictures and other enhancements over the standard app.
Different Browsing Views - Can browse via the database (and tags) or the normal file based directory views.
EXIF tags - Ability to read them. Not sure on where I'm going with this feature yet.
There's no time frame when this will be first released, but it will be out when I have it in a nice stable state, and feature-wise, similar to the HTC Album. Further features will then be added in further (quick) releases. I have a name of the application in mind but I don't want to announce it yet as this application is very much in progress. I also don't want someone to steal the name.
So why have I posted this? Well I know the good people of XDA are full of good ideas so I'm asking you this: what would you want from this new Gallery app?

Reserved for future use.

will you try to add in multi touch like the demo photo app of long ago that was never refined? i cant wait for you to finish, the htc album gets on my nerves too. it always reorders the pictures as it pleases even though i have "sort by date" selected after a wipe.

yea, add multitouch

As long as there are more sorting options ill be eternally grateful

Not sure on multitouch as I don't really see a need for it (plus can't be bothered with the potential Patent infringement stuff). I will include a nicer way of zooming in and out than the simple buttons though, and I think it's more elegant than multitouch.
Regarding sorting, there will definetly be better sorting options. And i'll make sure they actually work too. This is probably the number one thing that annoys the hell out of me with the HTC Album.

Have the ability to pick a folder of images or folders.
I hate using gallery on my phone and it picks every picture on my SD card. Kinda annoying honestly, but hey it is what it is.

Also implement features such as double tap to zoom...hate using the zoom toolbar
And auto rotate with animation
Refer to app called "Picture Viewer" to understand wht i am talkin about...its a nice app just lackin features...
http://www.cyrket.com/package/rip.android.GlImageView

an idea for zooming: clockwise to zoom in and counter-clockwise to zoom out ... i dont remember where ive seen that before but just seems like a cool idea if able to be implemented

xidominicanoix said:
an idea for zooming: clockwise to zoom in and counter-clockwise to zoom out ... i dont remember where ive seen that before but just seems like a cool idea if able to be implemented
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Hmm the app i refered to in the above post has zoom in / zoom out by moving ur finger up or down
Different implementation possibilities lol

Check out the Albums program from Hero. It has some nice features: pinch zoom in/out, sd card/facebook/flicker albums, swipe to navigate, slideshow animations, autorotate animation, grid or directory view, etc.
The tags feature you are adding would be great since I have them in directories for now (basically 1 tag only).
The ability to add pictures from a remote "gallery" server (or similar remote server you can run at home) would be great since I don't put all my pictures on facebook/flicker (nor do I want to).
http://gallery.sourceforge.net/

I think a zoom feature like this would be nice if you think that you could do it. You can watch it in action if you watch the video. It two minutes and six seconds in.
http://phandroid.com/2009/03/18/androids-circular-zoom-on-the-htc-magic/

What annoys me the most is the phone generating thumbnails for all 1600 of my pictures, I have to leave it there for 10 minutes or so to let it do that. My old phone, which a dumb phone never had to do that when browsing all the pictures and was way faster.

I second SolemnWishing's request. I would like to see the thumbnail part in the default gallery done away with in the app. Are you going for a complete default gallery replacement app or will this piggyback in anyway off the default one? I would like to be able to replace it completely just like the launcher.apk and the mms.apk.

SolemnWishing said:
What annoys me the most is the phone generating thumbnails for all 1600 of my pictures, I have to leave it there for 10 minutes or so to let it do that. My old phone, which a dumb phone never had to do that when browsing all the pictures and was way faster.
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Hmm yea tht is frustrating, i hope the OP finds a way around it..perhaps read the images n instead of creating smaller ones it shud just resize the images n display them or somethin....

tmjonesva said:
will you try to add in multi touch like the demo photo app of long ago that was never refined? i cant wait for you to finish, the htc album gets on my nerves too. it always reorders the pictures as it pleases even though i have "sort by date" selected after a wipe.
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Click to collapse
There are a few great features in the demo app. If you could get a hold of the source ... WOW ... it could save you a lot of time and give you a great start on creating a kick ass gallery app. Good Luck!!

I don't agree with the request to eliminate the thumbnailing. Thumbnailing is a great feature and only happens the first time you open a particular image set - it is then databased so the thumbnails load instantly later. A more customizable approach would be a better idea, like the option to disable thumbnailing selectively.
It would be nice to have the option of EXCLUDING and/or HIDING certain paths, for example, some programs add in their own images that you most likely don't want visible in the gallery. I don't like those image hiding programs that screw with the file extensions, and suggest that password protection and obfuscation isn't necessary -- just the ability to keep the crap out.

[Q] Camera pictures sharp then soft

I've posted http://forum.xda-developers.com/z3-compact/help/z3-compact-camera-z1-compact-t2899172 but having spent a couple of days I wanted to see if other are having the same issue.
Basically.. when I take a photo in any mode, the initial capture looks great, but then 0.5-1 second later Sony 'processes' the image and it looks worse 9 times out of 10. Example is if you take a picture of your hand, the initial capture shows all the skins imperfections and looks really good on the screen, a second later, it looks softer... I am not using 'face soften' or anything like that either.
Why is this the case? Can you disable the processing? I can't believe this got through Quality Control, surely people in the product testing group would have noticed this? Seems a weird flaw in the software...

rcbmulder said:
I've posted http://forum.xda-developers.com/z3-compact/help/z3-compact-camera-z1-compact-t2899172 but having spent a couple of days I wanted to see if other are having the same issue.
Basically.. when I take a photo in any mode, the initial capture looks great, but then 0.5-1 second later Sony 'processes' the image and it looks worse 9 times out of 10. Example is if you take a picture of your hand, the initial capture shows all the skins imperfections and looks really good on the screen, a second later, it looks softer... I am not using 'face soften' or anything like that either.
Why is this the case? Can you disable the processing? I can't believe this got through Quality Control, surely people in the product testing group would have noticed this? Seems a weird flaw in the software...
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I totally get what you mean. It's as though when the shutter is half pressed, everything is in focus. Then when you snap, all goes blur.
I was attributing this maybe to my shaky hands, but apparently I'm not the only one having this problem.
More often I experience what you said in Manual mode. My photos are better in SA mode.

Sony Soft skin effect ruins all pictures of people
You are 100% correct. Sony has put a soft skin effect (some asian girls love it) on all pictures of faces. It automatically ruins your picture and makes it look fake.
I'm a professional photographer, but the new Xperia phones are so "smart" that they are useless on portrait pictures. Sony MUST fix this.
You can not take a normal picture of any face with the Xperia Z3 or Z3 Compact. Nobody should buy this phone before Sony fixes the issue with "Soft skin".
rcbmulder said:
I've posted http://forum.xda-developers.com/z3-compact/help/z3-compact-camera-z1-compact-t2899172 but having spent a couple of days I wanted to see if other are having the same issue.
Basically.. when I take a photo in any mode, the initial capture looks great, but then 0.5-1 second later Sony 'processes' the image and it looks worse 9 times out of 10. Example is if you take a picture of your hand, the initial capture shows all the skins imperfections and looks really good on the screen, a second later, it looks softer... I am not using 'face soften' or anything like that either.
Why is this the case? Can you disable the processing? I can't believe this got through Quality Control, surely people in the product testing group would have noticed this? Seems a weird flaw in the software...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I've experienced the same thing as the OP on occasion. Sony has always had rubbish jpeg processing that destroys details, even in its high-end cameras. I really wish it would offer the option of switching noise reduction and other processing algorithms off. The Z3c camera is capable of very good quality, but the software makes taking any photo a hit-or-miss experience (janky white balance, incorrect shutter speed/ISO for scene, over processing of jpegs, etc.).
I renamed the iAuto mode to uAuto (aka Unintelligent Auto)

Does this processing still happen if you use the Google Camera app instead? My understanding is that these processing algorithms are sony-app specific and if you unlock the BL and lose your DRM keys (thanks a lot sony), you no longer get sony's denoisification/etc processing, at which point the sony camera app will behave just like any other camera app that doesn't have access to sony's processing.
This is a terrible "workaround" as sony doesn't give us a way to set google camera is default - and we can't disable these features in the sony camera app.

I've got the same problem even if I use the google's camera instead of the default one. I don't understand why we're allowed to turn off this soft skin effect even if we "turn off" with the button on option. I really hope Sony is going to fix this because it's so annoying.

Lets wait for the new android L as it will come with raw image support, so hopefully this will be a fix .
http://www.androidauthority.com/nexus-5-lollipop-camera-api-samples-540858/

And have hdr mode on 20meg pics with a toggle option. In fact the whole hdr function needs work. Its currently pathetic.

I also hate this softening. I was wondering if it would be deactivated by loosing drmkeys.

2mal16 said:
Lets wait for the new android L as it will come with raw image support, so hopefully this will be a fix .
http://www.androidauthority.com/nexus-5-lollipop-camera-api-samples-540858/
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It would be preferable if Sony had software that took decent auto-mode photos in the first place. RAW support would be nice, but half the time I don't want to be editing photos, I just want to take a quick photo and post it online. Preferably an photo that's sharp, with decent white balance, some detail left at high-ISO, and no pink spot in the middle -- four major things that are not guaranteed with the camera now. Not to mention the fact that the file size for a RAW 20MP image (often over 30MB) will lead to storage space filling up fast.

pipspeak said:
It would be preferable if Sony had software that took decent auto-mode photos in the first place. RAW support would be nice, but half the time I don't want to be editing photos, I just want to take a quick photo and post it online. Preferably an photo that's sharp, with decent white balance, some detail left at high-ISO, and no pink spot in the middle -- four major things that are not guaranteed with the camera now. Not to mention the fact that the file size for a RAW 20MP image (often over 30MB) will lead to storage space filling up fast.
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Storage should not be that much of a problem as you always can expand with the SD card if you need to.
Nevertheless i agree with you, but since this softening effect can also be observed on Sony cameras i doubt that your wish will come true.
What RAW Image support will hopefully bring is better camera apps which process and compress exactly in the way you want without further modification on a computer (as we are basically already running around with a small computer). This of course will still take some time and effort but is very likely to happen.
So i guess we still have to live with this a couple of months .

Galaxy S5 camera versus iphone camera

I really like my S5 but when it comes to using the camera it looses personal every comparisson with the iPhone. Not only versios iPhone 6 but also older ones.
Either the Camera lags when I launch it and is not ready fast enough to catch the scene
Or from picture to picture I have to wait (I do have a fast sd card)
And ultimately (and this is my major complaint) all point and shoot pics are vivid and sharp on my friend's apple devices but not on mine. I can make pleasing pictures but I do have to make sure I hold my phone dead steady and bother about whether to use flash or not since relying on auto doesn't always do the trick. And focussing seems to be really slow in comparisson.
I have tried alternative apps but my shap shots are rearly as crisp as I would like to have them.
What is your experience? Or how can I improve this?

Buy an iPhone?
But seriously, it sounds like a problem with your S5, I have none of those problems, and get great pics without having to hold the phone perfectly still
Camera launches quick, photos switch perfectly smooth and fast too

*Detection* said:
Buy an iPhone?
But seriously, it sounds like a problem with your S5, I have none of those problems, and get great pics without having to hold the phone perfectly still
Camera launches quick, photos switch perfectly smooth and fast too
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Cheeky
No .. actually I really dig the freedom Android gives me and since there are so few complaints I thought this thread could bring some insight. I know that my phone is quite packed with stuff and that having a ligthweight system could probably improve things a lot.
So hopefully there will be another entry or two that may enlighten me

I find the S5 camera captures pretty amazing shots in good lighting., especially outdoors in the day. At night and indoors with poor lighting, I am not that impressed with the camera. But overall it's an impressive phone, and I will never trade an android for an iphone, due to android's freedom to customize in way too many aspects.

I now found out that automatic night mode may be what's diturbing me. It is said to be degrading the overall app performance. Will see how it goes without.

daniello8 said:
I really like my S5 but when it comes to using the camera it looses personal every comparisson with the iPhone. Not only versios iPhone 6 but also older ones.
Either the Camera lags when I launch it and is not ready fast enough to catch the scene
Or from picture to picture I have to wait (I do have a fast sd card)
And ultimately (and this is my major complaint) all point and shoot pics are vivid and sharp on my friend's apple devices but not on mine. I can make pleasing pictures but I do have to make sure I hold my phone dead steady and bother about whether to use flash or not since relying on auto doesn't always do the trick. And focussing seems to be really slow in comparisson.
I have tried alternative apps but my shap shots are rearly as crisp as I would like to have them.
What is your experience? Or how can I improve this?
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Click to collapse
I find the stock camera app fast and shot to shot (with auto night mode disabled) is fast.
However, I don't use it at all. Here's why, Samsung has a very aggressive noise reduction and sharpness that makes things look really ugly. In day light it isn't too bad but still noticeable.
If you want to unleash the capability of the camera, download Snap Camera and go to "Other" in camera settings and enable "Show advanced settings" and "Use OpenGLES 2.0" (don't enable camera2 api). Go back to "Photo" and put a checkmark on Denoise and remove the checkmark. It doesn't have a checkmark originally but it doesn't seem to disable it until you check and uncheck it. You want it to be unchecked so that it removes noise reduction. Also, check zero shutter lag and check Samsung camera mode.
Next, put the sharpness to 2 for balanced sharpness, or choose the one you want, note that after 3 images will be over sharpened.
This camera app has many features and settings, even the ability to choose what quick buttons you want. It's also fast!
Images look realistic. You will have noise all over but that's fine, at least all the details are visible.
Let me know what you think after you do the above.

Thanks for the instructions. I did first steps with Snap Camera but I cannot decide yet wheather I like denoise more than not to denoise .. I will have to do some real life tests. I do notice though that some features of that app need straightening out. It cannot write to my SD card directly and "touch to capture" is also not working. And I must admit that I miss the small preview pic I have in the stock app. Please don't get me wrong .. I have tested several camera apps so I will also gladly look deeper into this one. For a while A Better Camera has been my favorite and I also tried Googles Camera etc. Regardless of what I tried out in the end I always returned to stock.

daniello8 said:
Thanks for the instructions. I did first steps with Snap Camera but I cannot decide yet wheather I like denoise more than not to denoise .. I will have to do some real life tests. I do notice though that some features of that app need straightening out. It cannot write to my SD card directly and "touch to capture" is also not working. And I must admit that I miss the small preview pic I have in the stock app. Please don't get me wrong .. I have tested several camera apps so I will also gladly look deeper into this one. For a while A Better Camera has been my favorite and I also tried Googles Camera etc. Regardless of what I tried out in the end I always returned to stock.
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Stock ones are always my favorites as well. I tried to find a way to remove the noise reduction using build.prop but I couldn't figure out how. For the HTC M9 that I have I can do that and use the stock app, which is awesome.
Did you try shooting to internal storage vs sd card using stock Samsung camera? Maybe it will be faster than SD card. On my M9 when I shot a raw it took 2 seconds to save in internal storage (38MB each) but when I tried saving to my Sony 40 mb/s class 10 micro sd card it took longer so I only use internal storage now, even on my S5 (though I don't have as much space on it). How fast is your SD card?

i feel like the iphone camera isnt that great plus smooth video on galaxy s5 is a win

Ramsey said:
How fast is your SD card?
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I have a Samsung Evo+ 128MB ExtSD and and it doesn't seem to be a bottle neck. Plus I use FolderMount anyway so in fact it doesn't really matter which device I set up in the cam app since it is a link to ExtSD anyway.

Note 8 Camera vs S8 Camera with standard settings

I am trying to decide between the S8 and the Note 8. Basically I prefer the size of the S8 but like the extra RAM and better camera of the Note.
My main question is about the camera with standard settings. If I just pick up the phone and take a picture without adjusting the settings first, can I set it to automatically take pictures like with both lenses so that I can adjust later or do I have to manually set that up each time I use it. Basically if I am on a walk with my daughter and she does something super cute and I want to snap a picture, do I need to do anything right that moment to get the benefit of 2 lenses or can it benefit from it with auto settings? This is basically the deciding factor. If I have to manually adjust settings to benefit from the 2 camera setup then it isn't really worth it for my usage. What about zoom, I know that reviews mention being able to zoom without losing quality by switching to the other lens...is this automatic when I zoom in or do I have to manually zoom in?
Thanks in advance for any answers.

chmcke01 said:
I am trying to decide between the S8 and the Note 8. Basically I prefer the size of the S8 but like the extra RAM and better camera of the Note.
My main question is about the camera with standard settings. If I just pick up the phone and take a picture without adjusting the settings first, can I set it to automatically take pictures like with both lenses so that I can adjust later or do I have to manually set that up each time I use it. Basically if I am on a walk with my daughter and she does something super cute and I want to snap a picture, do I need to do anything right that moment to get the benefit of 2 lenses or can it benefit from it with auto settings? This is basically the deciding factor. If I have to manually adjust settings to benefit from the 2 camera setup then it isn't really worth it for my usage. What about zoom, I know that reviews mention being able to zoom without losing quality by switching to the other lens...is this automatic when I zoom in or do I have to manually zoom in?
Thanks in advance for any answers.
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You should be on the Note 8 or S8 threads asking such questions. We are tablet owners so what ever you may ask outside of the Note 8.0 discussion will end up confusing you and note 8 peeps, along with the peeps who are answering question here.

How does the panorama mode work in the stock camera app?

I must say I'm impressed. Quality aside (it's still a phone camera), the images are seamless.
Can someone explain? Does it just lock ISO etc. and use the decently fast RAM and CPU to speed things up?
Just to make it absolutely clear, I'm talking about this app.

HELLO Wrt34u7, I capitalize the magic word when you ask for info or help.
Also know on which devices you want to know how to use the panorama.
Thank you for specifying