[L635] Life is hard without PureView...

[TLRtheory]

I didn't think someone who owned the 1520 and 930 could appreciate a low-ender like the L635, but there's something wonderful about it... the battery life is just freaking amazing and it compliments the hardware design language of my Surface so well that I want to spray-paint a battery cover to match the Surface's color.

...but something that's been persistently bothersome is how annoying life is without the camera button that comes with PureViews. I really want a quick way to access camera. It just struck me how odd it was that we couldn't reverse swipe the lock screen to access the camera like every Windows 8 computer can.
Posted via Tapatalk from my Surface 3 (128GB/4GB)

 

[gpobernardo]

The title may be improved a bit since the post doesn't establish the correlation of the L635 not having PureView technology and the mentioned missing feature (reverse swipe of the lock screen to access the camera). It does appear, though, that only Lumia phones with PureView technology have a dedicated camera button where, for such phones, the camera app (either Microsoft Camera or Lumia Camera) can be launched under lock screen by pressing and holding on the camera button depending on the configuration in the settings.

For the L635 (and other phones that don't have the dedicated camera button), it should be possible to add the "camera" as a quick action item, such that it can be accessed "easily" just by pulling the notification center down even in lock screen.

 

[TLRtheory]

The correlation between the L635 not having PureView was moreso aimed towards the lack of that camera button (and; of course, the associated quick launch)... reverse swipe camera launching was more of an afterthought.

The notification toggle option's actually a big part of why I decided to make this thread. Tried it and it was okay, but ultimately messed with my muscle memory since I'm used to those being Wifi/BT/GPS/Brightness. Also tried setting up Kids Corner so that I'd swipe to the right and get to it, but that actually added 3 steps onto the process.

What I suppose would help me is just an app that replaces the lockscreen and allows me to quick launch actions. I'd imagine finding one that just shoots me straight into Lumia Camera can't be that hard to find?

Posted via Tapatalk from my Surface 3 (128GB/4GB)

 

[gpobernardo]

Yes, it was an apparent correlation rather than an absolute one, since there are Windows Phones that have a dedicated camera button but don't have PureView Technology (such as the Lumia 610 and the HTC 8s).

The feature you're looking for may have been available in pre-Windows Phone 7 phones (recall the SPB Shells that can be "installed" on Windows Mobile 6.5 devices).

However, given the structure of Windows Phone 8 and 8.1, the Lock Screen is truly a screen that locks the phone, i.e. when the lock screen is active nothing active can be done with your phone. In fact, if I recall correctly, the earlier versions of Windows Phone 7/8 didn't have much features available in the Lock Screen - it was only recently when the notification center was enabled, glance screen.

But we won't go further into that kind of discussion - what it most probably means is that there are currently no third-party* apps that can modify any portion of the OS (including the lock screen), that there most likely is no such app that can introduce additional functions to the lock screen (otherwise, the lock screen won't really be a lock screen by definition if apps could go through and over it) - until such a time when Microsoft makes the relevant APIs available to all developers.

So, for now, you may want to update your muscle memory a bit in having to trade off one of those quick setting settings (ah, the redundancy) for the camera. You may replace GPS with Camera, since toggling location services on and off may not be as pressing as the need to take a photo when the emergent situation calls for it.

*- Note that Microsoft released apps that can modify the lock screen, one of which has been discontinued already.

 

[Ten Four]

I have my camera on the quick action menu so I can get to it by just swiping down from the lock screen, but that only launches the default app. I prefer Proshot (great app, you should try it) so I resort to keeping it a big button near the top of my homescreen. In practice, it doesn't make that much difference to me. Phone cameras are so slow in operation anyway they are useless for any type of action shot, so a few seconds this way or that doesn't matter. I had a 520 with the dedicated camera button and I found I ended up using the on-screen button more than the physical one. Now, if the camera was as responsive as say a normal point and shoot camera having a real shutter release would be great.

 

[gpobernardo]

I had an HTC T3333 back in Windows Mobile 6.5.3 and the camera response time was pretty quick when it was set in "sports mode" or something like that. But then, that was a 0.3MP auto focus camera. Hopefully our phone cameras would be a lot faster in Windows 10 Mobile.

It is still possible to take actions shots with our phone cameras - it helps to pre-set the focus before finally squeezing the shutter (or tapping the screen). To illustrate, the L1020 is possibly one of the slowest cameras a phone has seen, but here a few examples of perfectly timed shots:








Some of these shots were possible because of the Xenon flash in the L1020, which has more or less a 1/2000 of a second burst of light. Nonetheless, since the other shots didn't need the Xenon flash, if it is possible to take perfectly timed shots with a "slow" camera such as that in the L1020, then it should also be possible for all the other cameras in the other phones that are much faster than that in the L1020, with or without PureView.

 

[Ten Four]

Sure, you can take "perfectly timed" photos if you have great anticipation and are ready to shoot. But, in the 'good ol' days' with a film camera you could be walking down the street in a busy city and suddenly see someone darting out of a store in an interesting outfit and whip your camera to your eye to get a shot off in a second or two. I've yet to use any digital real camera that can do that, though most are infinitely faster than most phones. Even when you have the camera on and are almost ready to shoot the autofocus usually takes a bit to lock on. So it is possible to get "perfectly timed" photos with a phone, but certainly not easy or common. Just flip through Instagram and almost all the photos are very static--sure there are many exceptions, but they prove the rule!