Android 15 is fixing one of the worst parts of the Pixel’s webcam feature

Android 15 could fix USB webcam video quality by adding a dedicated High Quality Mode.
This is an update to the plug-and-play webcam feature added in Android 14 QPR1.
While the feature has been convenient to use, the video quality is pretty mediocre, so this is a welcome change.

Unless you were to buy an absurdly expensive webcam, there’s a good chance the camera quality of the Android smartphone you already own blows your PC’s webcam out of the water. That’s why many people use their smartphone as a webcam, which is easy to do thanks to third-party webcam apps. With the Android 14 QPR1 update for Pixel phones, Google made it even easier to do this by building USB webcam support right into Android.

While Android’s webcam feature is super convenient to use since it doesn’t involve downloading a specific app, it unfortunately leaves a lot to be desired. When Android Authority’s Dhruv Bhutani tested it against the iPhone Continuity Camera, he was especially disappointed regarding video quality. He said that the video quality when using his Google Pixel 8 Pro as a webcam was “pretty mediocre” and “nowhere near as good as the iPhone.”

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