HUGE Camera Bug on low battery tested on 2 different droids

[tassadar898]

When the battery is low (Red LED blinkng) and somtimes at 15% when the popup comes up and you try to take pictures in close to or complete darkness pictures taken will look cut off like below:

Picasa Web Albums - JeffreyPeacock

If you keep taking pictures it will get to a point where the flash will stop working altogether and it will focus red bars take a picture of darkness since the flash did not come off. Opening and closing the camera app fixes this problem temporarily. If you plug it in and take pictures while plugged in the problem goes away. If you let it charge for a little bit unil it gets to around 15% and take unplug it and take pictures, the pictures will be fine until the battery drops to low (Red LED blinking). Two of my droids experiences this issue and my friend's droid as well.

P.S. This happened with 2.0 and 2.0.1

Edit:
Additional Info:
What is weird is that when I start taking pictures, first 1/4 of the photo will be cut off, then 1/2, then 3/4, finally just a sliver of picture will come through. Then the flash wont even come on at all... even if I force the flash on under settings no light will appear. Then I have to restart the camera app to get it to cycle through. It would make sense it is a battery issue having a decrease in voltage and not being able to supply the needed power to the LED, but do all droids have that problem? Do I defected unit or battery?

 

[mrthundercleese]

Hmm I don't know if I'd call this issue HUGE. It's no secret that the Droid's camera sucks.

Also, If your battery light is blinking you really should charge it. If you don't you'll have bigger issues than a camera not working .

Is it broken? Sure it is. Is it a HUGE problem? Nah.

 

[square]

Huge. Quickly. Bye.

 

[tassadar898]

Not being able to take pictures in the dark when you have low battery is huge problem in my opinion.... stuff should simply not stop working when the battery gets low. I also noted in the thread that it is a HUGE problem only on low battery... which indeed it is.

 

[square]

charge your phone and complain less.

 

[tassadar898]

charge your phone and complain less.

If you don't like the thread you dont have to comment on it. Its a valid complaint that requires attention, if i dont have a charger on me and need to take a quick photo in a night club for example, i'm left with what will look like severed heads. I posted this also as a poll to make sure that it is not just me and my friends phone... this seems like a hardware issue because it does it only on low battery.

 

[soulesschild]

Not being able to take pictures in the dark when you have low battery is huge problem in my opinion.... stuff should simply not stop working when the battery gets low. I also noted in the thread that it is a HUGE problem only on low battery... which indeed it is.

You do know that most phones disable certain features when the battery is low right? My Storm would turn off voice and data when the battery reached about 10%.

 

[square]

if i dont have a charger on me and need to take a quick photo in a night club for example, i'm left with what will look like severed heads.

seems like a neat photo.

 

[Timaphillips]

Wouldn't call this a bug. If your phone is flashing red because of a "dangerously low" battery, then there's probably not enough power to take a photo. Charge your phone.

 

[krichek]

You do know that most phones disable certain features when the battery is low right? My Storm would turn off voice and data when the battery reached about 10%.

Exactly, all Windows Mobile based phones go into flight mode when the battery reaches a certain point. Much more of an issue in my opinion then the camera being disabled. This is most likely a protective measure as I'm sure the flash is a significant battery drain and you can damage the battery if you let it completely discharge.

 

[DDave]

Not being able to take pictures in the dark when you have low battery is huge problem in my opinion.... stuff should simply not stop working when the battery gets low. I also noted in the thread that it is a HUGE problem only on low battery... which indeed it is.

I would think when the battery is getting really low, things that would put a drain on the battery (such as a flash) would not function properly. To me it makes sense. But then again, I'm new to smart phones and the DROID is my first.

 

[tassadar898]

The main reason I started this thread was to see if it was a universal problem or not to see if me and my friend have a defected device hence the poll.

As a side note it has happened to me before at 15% battery life when you get that warning popup that shows up battery use, but it always happens at Red LED blinking. Could any of you guys be kind enough to try to see if its a universal to droids.

P.S.
To say that this a safety feature its nonsensical because if it wanted to prevent the battery from completely draining there are a ton of better ways to do that.

 

[HotDawg]

Wouldn't call this a bug. If your phone is flashing red because of a "dangerously low" battery, then there's probably not enough power to take a photo. Charge your phone.

Bingo.

 

[krichek]

P.S.
To say that this a safety feature its nonsensical because if it wanted to prevent the battery from completely draining there are a ton of better ways to do that.

Better ways? Like going into flight mode? Frankly, I'd much rather have my PHONE decide its no longer a camera because of the available charge then to decide it is no longer a phone but will continue to function as a camera... Then again I'm pretty nonsensical at times.

 

[svtpickemup]

Wouldn't call this a bug. If your phone is flashing red because of a "dangerously low" battery, then there's probably not enough power to take a photo. Charge your phone.

DING DING DING.

It looks like the shutter or iris or whatever is trying to open but doesn't have enough power to completely open.

Keep the phone charged and quit taking pics of unsuspecting ladies in the nightclubs....

 

[soulesschild]

DING DING DING.

It looks like the shutter or iris or whatever is trying to open but doesn't have enough power to completely open.

Keep the phone charged and quit taking pics of unsuspecting ladies in the nightclubs....

This seems like the most plausible explanation.

 

[tassadar898]

Wow the flaming just won't stop, I repeat I posted this to explain a unusual feature that should not be happening, something no one else in this forum or anywhere else on the internet has brought up. Moreover I want to see if my device is defected... so stop telling me this is normal unless you test it and discover that your device does the same thing.

 

[HardCache]

Not being able to take pictures in the dark when you have low battery is huge problem in my opinion.... stuff should simply not stop working when the battery gets low. I also noted in the thread that it is a HUGE problem only on low battery... which indeed it is.

You have to remember that this is first and foremost, a PHONE!

... so yes at low battery levels they are going to hinder camera operation in order to try and reserve power for the PHONE in case it is needed, not an issue, and I don't anticipate this being changed to appease your opinion. it's working as intended for device that it is intended to be.

 

[square]

Keep the phone charged and quit taking pics of unsuspecting ladies in the nightclubs....

 

[tassadar898]

... so yes at low battery levels they are going to hinder camera operation in order to try and reserve power for the PHONE in case it is needed, not an issue, and I don't anticipate this being changed to appease your opinion. it's working as intended for device that it is intended to be.

Does it do the same for your device, its hard to make a general statement when you don't even know if the same issue appears on your own device... all i'm asking is to see if this is a common problem or not that people can test.. if it happens on only a few devices we know it may be a defect and not what it is intended to be

 

[soulesschild]

Does it do the same for your device, its hard to make a general statement when you don't even know if the same issue appears on your own device... all i'm asking is to see if this is a common problem or not that people can test.. if it happens on only a few devices we know it may be a defect and not what it is intended to be

See I would help but I hardly ever have my phone drained that hard. I guess I could just surf the market and play with apps all day to drain it faster but I'm really suspecting that this is intended and that there is no defect.

 

[Tymanthius]

Wow the flaming just won't stop, I repeat I posted this to explain a unusual feature that should not be happening, something no one else in this forum or anywhere else on the internet has brought up. Moreover I want to see if my device is defected... so stop telling me this is normal unless you test it and discover that your device does the same thing.

Haven't tested it, won't bother to test it. However, I think it would be a nice 'fix' if there was an update that would disable the camera at a certain battery level and give you a message if you try to take a pic saying you need to recharge first, rather than taking crappy pics.

But I wouldn't call this a bug any more than I would call it a bug that when your car battery is low the car won't start.

It's normal, and not unexpected for things to get wonky when the power is low. My motorcycle can get VERY weird if the battery is low, even while the motor is running.

 

[DDave]

I wasnt trying to come across as flaming, but I never let my phone get that low. I might give it a shot just to see. However, remember it is a phone first as others have stated. My comments were to explain why I would think it wouldnt work well. Low battery. Just like anything electronic, once it starts getting critically low, wierd things happen.

 

[tassadar898]

See I would help but I hardly ever have my phone drained that hard. I guess I could just surf the market and play with apps all day to drain it faster but I'm really suspecting that this is intended and that there is no defect.

If you could test it out you'd be the only other person on this thread trying to contribute to the issue at hand rather than dismissing it as something that is "normal" when they themselves have no idea if it is normal. Bottom line is a device should work the way as advertised at all levels of battery unless stated otherwise.

 

[soulesschild]

Also, the other issue of asking other users to test is it is that it's still an extremely small sample size. You and your 3 friends + say me testing it is still what, 5 out of how many Droid's deployed? You still can't make a good assumption just based on 5 samples.