Band Camera Control App

[anon(8555314)]

Band Camera Control (99 cent app)

http://winsupersite.com/microsoft-band/first-microsoft-band-selfie-app-has-arrived

It doesn't work for me but I am communicating with the developer.

 

[WinampLlama]

I was immediately thinking: this could be useful for selfie sticks and what do you know, the article mentions it. I'll have to check it out

 

[xandros9]

Maybe it should be called...
*sunglasses on*
..."Bandicam"

 

[stephen_az]

Does not work with Lumia 928....

 

[anon(7901790)]

It works for the Icon. The only problem I found was that depending on your lock screen it won't work. I use Lockmix and when I tried to take a photo, it locked my phone. After changing my lock screen to "photo," I had no problems with it working.

It is slow too. When I say, "camera take a photo," it takes a few seconds to trigger then it automatically gives you a 4 second countdown. So to take a photo, it takes anywhere from 4 to 7 seconds before it actually shoots. Not very practical, but still kinda cool.

Addendum: When you say, "camera take 3 photos in 10 seconds." It means it will take three photos after a 10 second countdown, not 3 photos within a 10 second time span.

Addendum to the addendum: It doesn't use the front facing camera, just the rear. So, if you want to take a selfie, you have to use the rear facing camera, which can make composing the shot problematic. Also, it doesn't save to the camera roll. It saves to the root pictures folder and names it photo.jpg. So if you take several pics using it, you'll have files named photo.jpg, photo(1).jpg, etc. in your pictures folder.

This is a nice app, but I'm not sold on its practicality. It takes two hands to use, it is slow, doesn't access the front facing camera, doesn't use the WP photo naming convention (i.e. WPyyyymmdd_hh_mm), and doesn't save in the Camera Roll folder.

 

[JensGorm]

Hi

I'm the developer of the app - thank you for pointing out those shortcomings. I also have the Icon, and incidentally I also use LockMix as my only lockscreen app, and I haven't experienced the problem you mention with locking the screen. Do you unlock the phone some time before using the Band Camera Control? In the Speech settings, have you enabled the 'Allow Speech above lock'?

I didn't know that it saved pictures to the root folder! I've just checked the gallery app on the phone and thought that was good enough I will fix that.

I will add a feature to use the front facing camera using an extra keyword in the command, e.g., 'take a photo [front facing]' with the keyword being optional, what do you think?

I'll make it faster, I've thought of that too

Thanks for the feedback,
Jens

 

[JensGorm]

This shall be fixed in the update I sent in last night. I hope it is approved by MS today or tomorrow

 

[JensGorm]

Does not work with Lumia 928....

This shall be fixed in the update I sent in last night. I hope it is approved by MS today or tomorrow

 

[kittengirl]

Hi - I have speech above lock turned on, but I also use a passcode. I just tested and found that although I can take pictures without entering the passcode on my 1520 (I believe this is a setting I had to enable) it won't work with the app. Cortana wakes up, listens to my request, and then forces me to enter to code before taking the picture. Anyway of fixing that?

Also, just a suggestions, but instead of (or in addition to) the keyword "front facing" what about the word "selfie" as the keyword? It's more intuitive for some people I think.

 

[cvflowe]

Hmm, I couldn't get it to work on my Lumia 1520 developers preview.

 

[psyfreaki]

doesn't work for me as well (lumia 1020). it launches the app after the command, on the band it traces 'taking photo' but nothing happens afterward

 

[rory753]

side question: how do you have a dev preview for the 1520?

 

[anon(7901790)]

Hi

I'm the developer of the app - thank you for pointing out those shortcomings. I also have the Icon, and incidentally I also use LockMix as my only lockscreen app, and I haven't experienced the problem you mention with locking the screen. Do you unlock the phone some time before using the Band Camera Control? In the Speech settings, have you enabled the 'Allow Speech above lock'?

When I first tried it, my screen was unlocked and when I tried to take a pic it locked my screen. Yes, I checked and it was checked. What is interesting is that I just tried it and it worked fine. Of course, if my screen was PIN locked it asked for my PIN before taking a picture. Which makes sense. I hadn't actually opened Lockmix after it had been updated a few times and I am wondering if that was the problem. It seems to be working fine now with Lockmix as my screen lock app.

I didn't know that it saved pictures to the root folder! I've just checked the gallery app on the phone and thought that was good enough I will fix that.

I wanted more info on the images and used Pocket File Manager to look at them. That was when I discovered it saves to the Pictures root and not Camera Roll.

I will add a feature to use the front facing camera using an extra keyword in the command, e.g., 'take a photo [front facing]' with the keyword being optional, what do you think?

I would suggest maybe something like, "Camera, take a selfie." That would be more intuitive and easier to say. I also suggest a 5-10 second delay (or at least the ability to make a delay) so the user can compose the shot.

I'll make it faster, I've thought of that too

Thanks! Like I said it is a pretty cool app. I would also suggest maybe adding a Hey Cortana aspect for those users who don't own the MS Band. Something like, "Hey Cortana, take a picture." You would be able to market it to a wider audience; both to those of us who own the MS Band and those without.

Thanks for the feedback,
Jens

Addendum: Is there any way to use the default camera app? For example, my default camera app is Lumia Camera. So when we press the action button and say, "camera, take a picture," it brings up (in my case) Lumia Camera and takes the shot. I'm not a developer so I'm not sure how hard that would be or if it is even possible. Just a thought.

You're welcome! And thanks for responding.

 

[EMitchell]

I downloaded this app and used it with my Lumia 830. Worked great, but the comments above hold true for me; would like to be able to use the front camera, would like to select or not select the delay. Cool app.

 

[Christopher Senn1]

question for the developer. Is it possible to make an app to control your music on the phone? If you can remotely take a picture why not remotely go to the next song or something like that?

 

[TiLoBrown]

Does this work with the Lumia Camera?

 

[anon(7901790)]

question for the developer. Is it possible to make an app to control your music on the phone? If you can remotely take a picture why not remotely go to the next song or something like that?

Yes. It's built into Cortana. You press and hold the action button and say "'Play' whatever song you want." The problem is that it doesn't work consistently. I could get it to work when I said, "Play AC/DC," or "Play Def Leopard."

It would play the first track for those respective artists. It also depends on the artist too I think. I tried, "Play .38 Special", and it brought up a Bing search results for the band .38 Special.

When I tried, "Play Hard as a Rock", it would bring up Bing search results for the song "Hard as a Rock" instead or played "Heart of Rock and Roll" by Huey Lewis and the News.

Even when using, "Hey Cortana" I had problems. The integration with Xbox Music (among other things) isn't fully supported yet in Cortana. Something I hope to see in Windows 10.

 

[stephen_az]

Hi

I'm the developer of the app - thank you for pointing out those shortcomings. I also have the Icon, and incidentally I also use LockMix as my only lockscreen app, and I haven't experienced the problem you mention with locking the screen. Do you unlock the phone some time before using the Band Camera Control? In the Speech settings, have you enabled the 'Allow Speech above lock'?

I didn't know that it saved pictures to the root folder! I've just checked the gallery app on the phone and thought that was good enough I will fix that.

I will add a feature to use the front facing camera using an extra keyword in the command, e.g., 'take a photo [front facing]' with the keyword being optional, what do you think?

I'll make it faster, I've thought of that too

Thanks for the feedback,
Jens

I am sorry but if you are going to charge people for an app out of the box, it is upon you to thoroughly test before release. This obviously did not happen since it does/did not work on an array of devices. I have no problem dropping a dollar on an aspiring developer's product but I expect it will meet minimum standards of functionality. It did not and I rated it in the store accordingly. Coming on a forum to tell people you are fixing things (after the fact) is also quite inadequate. It should have been properly tested before release such that fixes are for typical bugs, not to address the fact it simply does not work.

 

[TheArcaneFlame]

Unfortunately it's not working on my Icon. Cortana recognizes the commands and it will pop up a countdown timer but then that disappears and it does nothing. Haven't been able to get it to take a photo but will do some more testing later when my coworkers aren't staring at me like I've gone mad for issuing camera commands to my wrist.

On one hand I am encouraged that the Dev says he has an Icon and both he and gernerttl say it works on it. So that gives me hope that it will eventually work on mine... On the other hand, I'm discouraged by the fact the Dev has an Icon yet it doesn't work on mine. I would think it would be rock solid on the same device as what the Developer has. Hope it continues to be improved and these issues get worked out.

 

[anon(7901790)]

Unfortunately it's not working on my Icon. Cortana recognizes the commands and it will pop up a countdown timer but then that disappears and it does nothing. Haven't been able to get it to take a photo but will do some more testing later when my coworkers aren't staring at me like I've gone made for issuing camera commands to my wrist.

On one hand I am encouraged that the Dev says he has an Icon and both he and gernerttl say it works on it. So that gives me hope that it will eventually work on mine... On the other hand, I'm discouraged by the fact the Dev has an Icon yet it doesn't work on mine. I would think it would be rock solid on the same device as what the Developer has. Hope it continues to be improved and these issues get worked out.

Try opening the app. I had to do that after the last update. A soft reset may work as well.

Btw. I tried the "camera, take a selfie" command and it worked. I also learned that you don't need the Band for it to work. I did it via Cortana by saying, "Hey Cortana", then "Ccmera, take a selfie." If you don't have Hey Cortana then you can open Cortana, tap the microphone for a voice search, and say, "Camera, take a selfie", and it worked.

With more refinement, this app could really help Windows Phone stand out even more.