Google is working on a new API for Android camera that will being some new features to the camera app. Android is often criticized for the lack of better cameras and at a time others like Nokia are differentiating their products based on cameras. The new API is aimed at improving the Android camera bringing new features like RAW format support, face detection and more.
RAW is an image format that is uncompressed and includes great detail of the original photograph. It is usually converted to JPEG or TIFF before printed. Google seems working on introducing this support with the new camera API. The new API also includes support for burst mode and face detection. The code related to these features was first uncovered by Josh Brown on Google+. The API is in the works from quite some time according to reports, Google started work as early as 2012.
The new camera API is supposed to make it to the KitKat release, but this October it was removed from the final build citing Not ready yet. The Nexus 5 is criticized for its lack of a good camera, all the early reviews of Nexus 5 were unhappy with the Nexus 5 camera performance. iPhone camera are always better than the Android ones and with the new API Google might be trying to address this issue. The improvements are not limited to Google Nexus phones, they can used by any Android vendor.
Source: Ars
