[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Mitch Matrixx:
Hello xda,

I've condensed this thread down a bit...

Point being despite HTC's minor improvements in the camera app since it's release, many Evo owners on here including myself find that the stock camera quality leaves much to be desired.

Some small steps have been made on the dev side of things to improve audio etc, but there is bad compression, bad stabilization, bad audio quality when recording loud environments, and horrible quality in low light.

Im not getting on a soap box, the Evo simply doesn't compete with it's droid brethren for the most part.

Depending on what is involved, I started this thread seeking either a new app built from the ground up, or some serious software improvements made to the Sense cam.

I'm sure there are many technical problems to overcome to make this a reality, but hopefully with the talent that is xda, the Evo can one day take decent pictures without needing perfect light, and 10 minutes to focus the thing.

Here are some ideas towards improvement:

1) First and foremost, a clean UI, being on an Evo, HTC style would be nice with the charcoal black, and reflections, but then Transparent/translucent would be even nicer. I don't want an iClone, but their UI is simple and easy to use, and IMO aesthetically pleasing, CM6 on the other hand looks outdated as does HTC's silly menu access, and zoom bar.

2) Good Codecs... I'm sure things get tricky here. Do we have to use open source codecs, and drivers? Are there limitations here that laypersons like myself don't understand? Are there royalties involved, and why did HTC/Android use the codecs that we currently use... The audio codec used now is from NES era, and bumping up the khz just may not be enough. CM team is already proving there are workarounds for this.

3) I hate Qik, and I hate Fring. Each app contains good things that the other doesn't, and I don't want to compromise. Neither should you. There should be a better app, and that app should be integrated into the Camera app. If I'm taking a video of something, or if I decide I want to video chat with someone while my Camera app is open, it would be nice to make one click on the camera UI, and have it bring up a call function. Full screen image, with thumbnail for front camera, NO walkie talkie button to talk. Again, think clean and simple.

4) Swipe to zoom, and Touch to Focus (TTF). This should be the standard, for both video and camera. And while I'm using the video recorder, I'd like to be able to do both if possible. Not have to zoom, then hit record. That's crazy.

5) Some kind of image stabilization. Whether I'm taking videos or pictures, it looks like a crackhead with Parkinsons shot it. I do suffer from the shakes a little but for c'mon, I've seen better image stabilization on Walmart cameras.

6)Integrate a more user friendly Gallery, like 3d gallery.

The gallery from HTC looks like it was ported from my other failure of a phone, the Instinct. If the developer is savvy, they could sell some kind of photoshop, or video edit add-on to give us creative control, and focus the main app on usability and quality. Save the editing stuff for later.

7)Add volume button control to take pics/vids. Having physical control on such a large phone is definitely handy. No pun intended.

8)Ability to shoot raw, (or close to uncompressed) pics in addition to better compression as a whole. The sensor supports raw, and people would love to have this.

9)While I haven't used it personally, a lot of people seem to want panoramic ability, and seem to love it.

10)HDR capability

11)Control over the flash intensity. A major problem is that the flash is super bright during dark shots... This usually results in washed out useless pics unless taken at distance. We know we can control the flash steps using the flashlight, so a way to step it down is needed.

This is the idea list.

It seems people will pay between $10-$20 for a good functioning camera app, that we don't have to install a different rom to utilize. I don't expect perfection, the phone's only been out a few months, and Android a few years, but come on, the source code has been available for a couple months now.

We have the hardware to do this, and camera apps like Vignette, Camera 360, and others are just simple overlays with edit functions, not true dedicated hardcoding, that alters the way the computer perceives the color and light entering the aperture.

Thanks everyone for entertaining my rant. Let the bumps begin!