Among the many uses that mobile phones have, lenses are the ones that have possibly advanced the most in recent years to allow us to take advantage of countless functions. Among its options we find all those that its lenses offer us, but there are also others that are based on software and that manage to improve the result by simply changing the resolution of the cameras on Android.
However, not all mobiles, or rather, customization layers, allow you to do this. The ones that make it easier are those models that use Android Stock or those that use the well-known Google camera by default. In case you don’t have the GCam app, we will also be able to install it, so we are going to explain what this option consists of and how you could use it.
And that’s not all, since we will tell you how to change the resolution for both photos and videos on your mobile with or without a customization layer.
Configure the Android camera
It is time to see the different options that we will have at our disposal depending on the camera application that we have, in addition to the customization layer that our Android phone has.
on Gcam
Smartphones that already have the Google camera application will not have to do these first steps and will be able to access the options directly. Although if your terminal does not integrate it, either because it is an OPPO, Xiaomi, Samsung or Realme model among other brands, we will have to continue installing the GCam on our mobile, in case we want to use it on our own. Otherwise we will not be able to really change the resolution of the photos and only the format will be an option.
To save yourself the work you can use GCamator . With this app, you can download the best version available for your phone. When you have it downloaded, in addition to the corresponding XML file, you will have to follow some more steps so that your mobile phone is configured correctly:
- Go to GCam > Settings .
- Scroll all the way down and tap on the Settings option.
- Select Save and put any name.
- Go to Downloads and send the XML file inside the GCam folder. That’s where you’ll find another folder called ‘Configs’ or ‘Configs7’ depending on the model.
- Inside this, you will be able to find the document that you had saved.
- Go back to the app and tap next to the trigger several times.
- After this, a window will be displayed where you can choose the new configuration provided by the XML document.
Once we have it installed, we just have to repeat these steps:
- To start, we will have to enter the camera options.
- Next, we tap on the drop-down bar to be able to tap on the Settings gear.
- Once inside, we are going to locate the Resolution option of the photo and video camera.
- And among its possibilities we will have access to different resolutions.
In other customization layers
Among the many options that we find within smartphones that have a customization layer, it is clear that the way in which we can configure the resolution of the mobile camera is similar, either for images or for video recording . In addition, in this case the steps are very similar, whether in OPPO’s ColorOS, Xiaomi’s MIUI, Samsung’s One UI or Huawei‘s EMUI.
Therefore, the first thing we must do is enter the app that comes by default on our smartphone. In some cases, we will find ‘shortcuts’ at the top of the screen.
However, in other layers we will have to go to the Settings (normally it will be by clicking on the gear icon). Inside we will have access to several options among which we will choose Resolution or a similar function (both for photos and for videos) and later we will be able to choose between the different alternatives that appear to improve the quality of the mobile camera .
Although, some other customization layers may allow you to modify this parameter directly from the main camera screen. Well, some software puts options to change the video resolution from the very window in which we find the trigger to start the recording.
On Stock Android
In those smartphones that come with Stock Android, that is, without their own customization layer, we will find a fairly simple Camera application. Therefore, what we must do first is enter the app > click on the gear icon > enter the Photos and Videos sections (we can display them so that they can be seen at the same time).
In the case of images, we will find the option to modify the resolution. On the other hand, for the clips, within this section, we will not see any option. But yes there are. We must exit the settings and get on the screen where we see the trigger. Then, we will have to display the menu, at that moment we will be able to see the different alternatives that the phone offers us (FHD, 4K, 6K, among other options that a mobile can offer us), in addition to the frame rate .
Change the quality on iPhone
Now that we have seen all the steps that we could use on Android, things on the iPhone change quite a bit. Basically, because within the Camera application we can do little. If we enter the app, we will see how in Photo we can only change the aspect ratio , but not the resolution (megapixels) that we want to use.
In the video section, we can indeed vary the quality if we click on the upper right corner. Depending on the phone, we will have one option or another, but HD will usually appear, we can even modify the FPS that we want to use.
However, if we go to the Settings application of the Apple phone, and look for the Camera app , we will find different functions that we cannot find in the native software. For example, we can better see what quality we want to record videos with the iPhone both in slow motion and at normal speed. But, again, for the photographic part we did not find any adjustment that is for the resolution of the images.
How to choose the resolution
It is clear that the higher the resolution, the better the image or clip that we record with the rear lens of our Android will look. However, it will not always be positive to have the largest of all the options offered by the smartphone enabled.
The good thing is that, as we have just shown you, changing this aspect of the camera is relatively quick and easy, so it will not be a big problem. However, the fact of taking photos and recording videos at a higher resolution will mean that they will take up much more space in the memory of our device.
For example, one minute of video in Full HD resolution at 30 FPS takes up 130 MB . However, if we do the same, but in 8K, it will occupy up to 600 MB . The same thing happens with photos. It will not be the same to use the 16 MP of the rear camera of the mobile, than other options that it offers us, such as 11 MP.
That is why we recommend configuring this smartphone application depending on the use you are going to make at all times.