Sony opens up experimental AOSP camera to developers

Sony has become increasingly open regarding software development and third parties, as well as taking on extra feedback from the community, with its Open Device program and the company has just released a new open source camera application for use with AOSP Xperia devices.

Before you all run to try it out, Sony clearly states that it does not recommend the app for daily use, as the app is not calibrated and will produce worse looking shots that Sony’s regular camera app. Instead, Sony stresses that the goal of the project is to allow developers to get behind the scenes to come up with innovative new camera applications and will hopefully improve support custom ROMs with basic camera functionality. It’s going to be interesting to see what comes out of it.

The open source camera is based on Qualcomm framework and works with a number of Xperia devices, including the Xperia Z1 Compact, Xperia Z1, Xperia Z Ultra (MSM8974), Xperia Z2 and Xperia Z2 Tablet (MSM8974AB), Xperia Z3 Compact, Xperia Z3, Zperia Z3 Tablet Compact (MSM8974AC) and Xperia Z3+, and Xperia Z4 Tablet (MSM8994). Support for the Xperia Z5 range, Xperia M2, E3 and T3 will be added in at a later date.

Sony’s Open Device program saw early Marshmallow binaries arrive for a number of its Xperia devices back in October, giving custom ROM development a good head start over handsets from other manufacturers. If you would like to learn more about the program, you can read all about it over on Sony’s official site.