Extract Sony Camera APK's from Android 11 X10iii

Applications
1

I can extract the Sony Camera software from my Android. Unfortunately it runs Android 12, and when trying to install them on SF4.5, it still reports old SDK version (11).

Does someone have an Android X10iii running Android 11?

Using android app APK_Extractor (play store or f-droid) extract the Sony camera APK’s.

On my 10iii Android 12, there appear to be 3 that are camera related.

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2

You maybe could download an image with Xperifirm and then extract the APK out of it? Probably does require a bit more manual handling a bit of Linux knowledge, though: [TOOL] XperiFirm ~ Xperia Firmware Downloader [v5.6.5] | XDA Forums

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Are you sure it would even work? Maybe it needs Sony’s framework to work properly, and I don’t think that Android Support relies on it because it’s built on top of AOSP.

Then again, maybe I’m wrong… :joy:

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Nope.
But it’s worth a try, eh?

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Absolutely! 20 chars and stuff

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What is so special about this camera app?

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It may offer a slightly better experience when taking photos (that’s a big maybe, because camera2 api is not supported on 10 III running SFOS).

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Hopefully it soon will be. Camera2 API development - #3 by mal

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I’m keeping my fingers crossed (for camera2 api and some other missing features on 10 III)

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Actually today I checked Open Camera. You can switch camera API within settings. Switching to camera2 didn’t show any error on my XA2+. However, from quick test pictures I haven’t found any difference.

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11

Are you sure that the improvements will be due to the apk rather than the driver itself?
If I’m not mistaken, the drivers are not those optimized by Sony, it’s the brightness control under sailfish of the LED that reminds me of that, I have the impression that the problem is quite similar. …

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12

I think Xperia camera will never work the same way as on native Android. As far as I understand it, you have the Android driver, and it doesn’t go straight to an Android app, but instead first gets adapted to SFOS way of doing things (droidcamera that right now only supports Camera1API), and then back to the Android AppSupport. So Android camera app doesn’t simply talk to the driver, but instead goes through 2 adaptation layers. So even if droidcamera will start supporting all the features, it will still not be the same as on Android phone. And there shouldn’t be any features that Android apps can access but native SFOS app can’t.

I think that is because the layer that talks between the Android driver and SFOS only supports Camera1API. But then translation from SFOS interfaces to AppSupport interfaces does support Camera2API, that is why OpenCamera and API prober do show all features are supported, but from my testing they do nothing.

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I can confirm this, tested with Android Open Camera on Volla / Waydroid. Switching to the API2 leads to much better images, it works!
Better sensitivity, better colours.

edit: I’ll try tomorrow with Xperia 10 & AlienDalvik…

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Then there’s sony proprietary camera algo blobs that get erased when unlocking bootloader (at least that’s my understanding of Has anyone an exploit for backing up TA (Trim Area) partition on Xperia 10 iii), but probably not worth it as, from my brief excursion to android side everyone is complaining about sony camera performance/quality anyway

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15

Is this even true, or just an urban myth? Personally I can’t really see any reason Sony would want to nuke the camera software when you unlock the bootloader.

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Just checked, but i think camera2api needs to be interpreted by the sony somehow, cause i’ve got the same exact result on my xa2 with the default app

This has been made with opencamera and camera2api

This has been made with the stock camera app

Or viceversa, but still they are pratically the same…

Edit: the only difference seems to be that photo with opencamera are thrice the size, like the jolla one is 4.5 mb versus the opencamera 12 mb, quite a difference…

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What’s the urban myth? You need a jailbreak to unlock bootloader nasty way, the good way erases keys to closed blobs

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18

To add to the confusion, I believe, this is true for older Xperias, but not for the 10 series and friends.

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19

Before i flash my xz2 Compact with the Community-Port i tested the Camera with Stock Android and after flash. The Picture-Quality remains the same. Only the Focus seems to be affected (often fails to find the right spot) with the Jolla-Photo-App and also with Advanced-Cam-App. But this behaviour seems to be a known issue and will hopefully fixed when switching to camera2api.

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I repeated tests with Volla and Xperia 10, Stock Camera and Android Open Camera.

Android Open Camera:
There is no noticeable difference in quality between Original Camera-API and Camera2-API, There is a little difference in file size, this may be coincidence because the test photos are not absolutely identical.
Camera2-API shows ISO 1920 and shutter time on the screen depending on the light conditions while operating the camera. Original Camera-API doesn’t.
Same situation on both phones.

Stock Camera:
Picture quality is the same as above, Camera2-API not available.