New Android 4.4.1 update finally rolling out to the Nexus camera’s rescue

Though Google’s Nexus 5 has been touted as being the best smartphone on the market considering its low cost, one of the biggest irks about it has been its camera performance. Google launched its latest mobile operating system Android 4.4 KitKat together with its latest smartphone, the Nexus 5 31 October. Now a bit more than a month later, it launched yet another update.

It was announced yesterday that Android 4.4.1 will be rolling out to the camera’s rescue. As mentioned on the Nexus Google+ page, the HDR+ function will tackle issues such as slow shutter speed, poor auto focus and also improved lighting functionality.

Together with a general camera app update, the new HDR+ mode will take care of most of the camera’s issues. “HDR+ lets you take great shots in challenging environments, say where there’s a large contrast of bright and dark portions of the scene and also in low light situations.”

Some tweaks and tucks have been made to the camera app’s UI as users now have the ability to pinch-zoom the viewfinder in HDR+ mode. Furthermore, when you press the shutter button, the camera will take a burst of shots in about a third of a second. This is a feature we’ve seen applied to many smartphones such as Samsung’s Galaxy S4. The images are “fused together” to create a “near perfect” shot.

The update further improves the 8MP camera with faster focusing, especially in low light. There’s also faster white balancing for truer colors and less shutter lag.

The Verge tested out this latest fix and notes “It’s not the best smartphone camera, but it’s a camera you can use confidently and expectantly knowing that it will almost always deliver. It may not take the perfect shot yet, but rarely offers anything but a completely usable one.”

Here’s some before and after shots found on the official Nexus Google+ page:

Before: Where’s the dog?

After: There he is
According to Android Central the update is already rolling out to other Nexus devices which for now includes the Nexus 5, Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 LTE (2013). Or, download the Camera APK right now and test it out for yourself. We’ve tried it, and it works.