Risk of installing Gcam on other Android phones?

I see Gcam apk files online everywhere but the Google Play Store, for all sorts of Android phones other than Pixels, but what is the risk of inadvertently installing malicious applications?

Cariboo wrote:

DWMurf wrote:

I see Gcam apk files online everywhere but the Google Play Store, for all sorts of Android phones other than Pixels, but what is the risk of inadvertently installing malicious applications?

I would think that a web search with your question about installing Android malicious applications would provide you with instant and varied answers better than the very few here that have experience with this. Ive not even heard or read about GCam mods being a problem source. One needs to carefully assess any side loaded Apk as best one can and assume risk. If the apk is malicious, then how bad, is maybe too difficult to answer your question, as it lacks detail, so the answer can only be, it depends based on the malicious code. Is the code an annoying Easter egg or the worst possible ransomware attack? Again a web search for possibilities will give you more info than any guessing here. Guessing and speculation is too often a source for fear mongering, misinformation and conspiracy lies.

GCam is natively installed into Pixel devices while very clever individuals have modded the code to try to work othere devices and with so many devices, there is no one modded version of GCam to even publish on the Play store, as one version would only apply to one device or manufacturer.

Thanks for your help. As you say, a Google search brings lots of links even with narrowing the search to my phone, a Samsung A32 5G, but nothing that confirms that anything actually works well or does no harm.

It seems that it would be a time consuming trial and error of testing various Gcam mods with unlikely chance of success and a possibility of compromising the security of my phone.

Sugasmune wrote:

The GCam ports are not that stable. Your smartphone may need restart after every 2'th photo you take. The stability swings considering available light.

Also GCam does not have HDR function. It has LDR named HDR+ enhanced.

Thanks for alerting me to some of the potential problems that I haven't even considered yet. I am thinking that my phone is not a good candidate for any Gcam mod although there are a number of ones claiming to be for the Samsung-galaxy-a32-5g.

CAcreeks wrote:

DWMurf wrote:

I see Gcam apk files online everywhere but the Google Play Store, for all sorts of Android phones other than Pixels, but what is the risk of inadvertently installing malicious applications?

Open Camera is fairly high rated. I like it, especially DRO.

Thanks, it is highly rated, and I have it on my Samsung galaxy A32 5g but when I enable Camera2api to enable manual modes, the image size gets restricted to a small size.

But just now trying DRO with Open camera, setting it to the original camera api, works nicely as you say. Thanks for pointing that out.

Sugasmune wrote:

Samsung lied about main camera Megapixels. It's not 64Mpix.

https://www.camerafv5.com/devices/manufacturers/samsung/sm-a325m_a32_0/

Samsung A32

GW3 10bit main sensor

Maximum picture resolution 4624×3468 Megapixels 16

Manual exposure range 1/10,000 – 1/2

ISO range 100–6400

Maximum analog ISO 240

There were a number of A32 models with different camera specs. I have one of the 5g models and specs seem to be accurately listed here: https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_a32_5g-10648.php

CAcreeks wrote:

DWMurf wrote:

Sugasmune wrote:

Samsung lied about main camera Megapixels. It's not 64Mpix.

https://www.camerafv5.com/devices/manufacturers/samsung/sm-a325m_a32_0/

Samsung A32

GW3 10bit main sensor

Maximum picture resolution 4624×3468 Megapixels 16

Manual exposure range 1/10,000 – 1/2

ISO range 100–6400

Maximum analog ISO 240

There were a number of A32 models with different camera specs. I have one of the 5g models and specs seem to be accurately listed here: https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_a32_5g-10648.php

Samsung product page has the same numbers as GSMarena.

https://www.samsung.com/us/smartphones/galaxy-a32-5g/#camera

Thanks for confirming that, and that agrees with what I am finding with my camera.

Sugasmune wrote:

Yes but the pinned down resolution is only 25%.

I have not seen any smartphone with full resolution available. The 48, 64, 108, 200 Mpix is just marketing trick. Even my 2018 Nokia 6.1 has 16Mpix. Last 4-5 years has been no innovation in sensor tech.

It's one of this things like 45% srgb ips panels on high end laptops. Or 16GB integrated RAM in laptop. And the USB 2 speed memory card

The 48 MP is available on my phone by selecting it in the camera app. I only tried it once and didn't notice any improvement in resolution over the 12 MP pixel binned image. Maybe it would help for cropped images.

I2K4 wrote:

DWMurf wrote:

I see Gcam apk files online everywhere but the Google Play Store, for all sorts of Android phones other than Pixels, but what is the risk of inadvertently installing malicious applications?

My Moto phone luckily supports several fully functional GCams by different devs from versions 6.x to 7.3 - in fact more of them than I want, worth poking around in buried Settings for very different innovations on the basic Pixel app. I luckily found good user recommendations in device user forums, but also searched, tried and failed to have some work right. I always have a third-party malware detector (currently BitDefender free ) scan and block installation, but have never had any malware problem with GCams either from the XDA Port Hub or some dev sites.

Incompatible GCams simply crash on launch or are functionally limited in various ways, sometimes depending on the manufacturer's limitation (sabotage) of Android's general Camera2 API functionality. I'd suggest running a testing app like Camera2 Probe (Weiss) to see if the phone is Level 3 Camera2 enabled (there are several other similar free testing apps).

None of the current version 8.x Gcams works for me, but apparently they do on other phones. As the Pixel Cameras themselves are increasingly shifting GCam functionality to proprietary hardware-based AI Core, Visual Core and the new Tensor System Chip, I'm not sure how the free-lance developers are managing ports to phones that are so different from the Pixels - set aside support for various wildly different lens and sensor configurations. No surprise if at some point the only way to get the real deal will be to buy a Pixel.

Thanks for your kind help in sharing your knowledge and experience here.

I tried Camera2 Probe as you suggest here and it shows limited support:

So it seems to me that my phone is not a good candidate for a Gcam mod.

I2K4 wrote:

DWMurf wrote:

...

So it seems to me that my phone is not a good candidate for a Gcam mod.

A shame. My pet beef with Android is the OEM sabotage of implementation of Camera2 API (along with the systemic stupidity of letting manufacturers and contracting telecoms manage or withhold Android updates). The improved Camera2 capabilities were introduced with Android 5, but some of us learned the hard way that phone makers were intentionally limiting it in order to restrict camera capabilities on mid-range and budget phones and force purchase of premium phones to get a regular Android feature.

Sadly, not only is such a phone incompatible with GCam but any number of "manual" settings available on apps like Open Camera, e.g. shutter speed, ISO, RAW/DNG, white balance are likely unavailable.

I do have a problem with Open Camera as well, enabling Camera2 API limits images to a low resolution. Otherwise the cameras are fine, the main one quite capable, using the original API. There is even a Pro mode enabling some manual controls.

I would think that Google would want to restrict using Gcam on non- pixel cameras rather than other manufacturers. It's not open source software is it? I'd have thought there would be a copyright issue.

DWMurf wrote:

I2K4 wrote:

DWMurf wrote:

...

So it seems to me that my phone is not a good candidate for a Gcam mod.

A shame. My pet beef with Android is the OEM sabotage of implementation of Camera2 API (along with the systemic stupidity of letting manufacturers and contracting telecoms manage or withhold Android updates). The improved Camera2 capabilities were introduced with Android 5, but some of us learned the hard way that phone makers were intentionally limiting it in order to restrict camera capabilities on mid-range and budget phones and force purchase of premium phones to get a regular Android feature.

Sadly, not only is such a phone incompatible with GCam but any number of "manual" settings available on apps like Open Camera, e.g. shutter speed, ISO, RAW/DNG, white balance are likely unavailable.

I do have a problem with Open Camera as well, enabling Camera2 API limits images to a low resolution. Otherwise the cameras are fine, the main one quite capable, using the original API. There is even a Pro mode enabling some manual controls.

I would think that Google would want to restrict using Gcam on non- pixel cameras rather than other manufacturers. It's not open source software is it? I'd have thought there would be a copyright issue.

It claims 5 ways to enable Camera2 API, for anyone who dares risk their phone, or security, or both.