Smartphones can do many things and replace a traditional computer for many everyday uses, such as consulting websites or emails. But cell phones haven’t forgotten their main purpose: socializing.
That’s why the market of instant chat applications, which has replaced the outdated and limited SMS, is one of the most difficult markets for those who want to conquer their place. But Snapchat will thrive in this round of power by highlighting short-lived and customizable photos.
Most people use the app as an alternative to WhatsApp on Android, making it their primary tool for chatting with their friends. But there is a fact about our favorite operating system: the quality of the photos taken is lower than, for example, on iOS or Instagram on Android. Why this ?
Snapchat photos are worse than other Android apps
Since the advent of Android 5.0 Lollipop, developers have had access to the Camera2 API, which gives them full control over the functionality of a particular photo sensor. As a result, it is possible that they have all the features of a phone to bring out the best possible image.
This is what the Instagram app does, for example, which lets you take the best shot possible depending on your phone. Enough to get high quality images without any compression for retouching.
Snapchat doesn’t work the same way. Actually, it doesn’t use the Camera2 API, it just accesses the view of your sensor and saves it. As a result, the quality is much lower as it doesn’t actually use the sensor and it’s extremely compressed. Understand that the app only takes a screenshot of what your camera sees, not an actual photo.
Snapchat photos are worse than iOS
Developing an application on Android requires making the application compatible with a large number of phones with different configurations. Development on iOS only requires the app to be compatible with iPhones.
Snapchat has chosen the “screenshot as seen by the photo sensor” route to avoid this programming issue on Android completely. On iOS, it has obviously optimized everything for maximum quality. The distribution of Android means that many devices are still under a version lower than Lollipop, making it impossible to use the Camera2 API.
Rather than choosing to make his app the best possible, the developer simply chose … ease. No, Snapchat’s lower quality doesn’t come from your phone or even Android. Only from the developer who could invest in making his app more powerful on the world’s most used operating system but didn’t.
How can I solve this problem?
It should be understood that the ball is only in the developer’s court. The solution to prioritize recording sensor flow is not bad in itself, as it provides better overall compatibility and a lower development cost.
But this comes at the expense of the Android user base, who has every right to want better. So it would be necessary to move things on their side. Largely and respectfully ask Snapchat to take our platform more seriously… in the hope that they will eventually address our complaints.
After all, the developer’s health is now so good that he can afford to create highly advanced catch glasses. So it’s time to take the platform more seriously.
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