HUGE Camera Bug on low battery tested on 2 different droids

[Stratman33]

Huge. Quickly. Bye.

Maybe we can get Tiger to cough up some money to fix this huge bug. I'm just sayin......

 

[tassadar898]

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.

Yes the reason why I made a poll to go along with this thread was to gather some data. But everyone else isnt helping by saying:

"THIS IS NORMAL GO CHARGE YOUR PHONE"

Its funny how they come to this conclusion without even testing it on their own advice.. pretty silly huh?

It is also normal to acquire dust under device screen over the course of time and yet there are like 3 different threads with polls on this forum complete with pictures that discuss it and people putting in their input on whether it is a defect or a common issue. That is all i'm trying to get out of this thread.

 

[square]

next time i'm clubbin, i'll drain my phone, try to snap some upskirts and let you know.

 

[tassadar898]

next time i'm clubbin, i'll drain my phone, try to snap some upskirts and let you know.

troll much?

 

[virtus]

So would it be more accurate to say that the bug is that there is no pop up window that says "Battery level too low. Camera functions may be limited."?

I think most of the negative comments stem from the fact that this is not a "HUGE" bug. A HUGE bug would be something like every other call being dropped, or crashes every 5 minutes, or the number 5 on the dialer doesn't work.

If I am away from a charger and my battery is under 20%, I am usually more worried about being able to make a phone call than take a picture.

 

[vido.ardes]

There are quite a few posts in this thread that are not helpful or even on topic. If you don't know anything about the OP's question, or don't agree with the statement, then please don't post.

Keep it on topic and useful please.

 

[tassadar898]

It is a extremely important camera issue at low battery if you can take pictures and they come out this way. When batteries get low on the droid the keyboard still works, web browser, text messaging, marketplace, when batteries get low on cameras this does not happen, when battery gets low on my PSP the buttons dont stop working, when my batteries get low on my DSi the camera still works as intended, I understand that this is a phone but this shouldnt be something that is happening. If it is in fact something that can't be fixed AND that this is a problem common to all droids which this forum and all its replies fails to accomplish... then maybe we can get google or motorola to implement a feature saying that camera features will not work properly at low battery.

There are quite a few posts in this thread that are not helpful or even on topic. If you don't know anything about the OP's question, or don't agree with the statement, then please don't post.

Keep it on topic and useful please.

Thank you, and let this post be the last useless post of the thread.

 

[madrsx]

I think the process of taking a 5 MP picture (with or without a flash) and processing it quickly so that it can be recorded to memory draws a greater amount of electricity from the battery. I wonder if a low battery is unable to provide enough of a jolt to complete the entire process (or do the full encoding), leaving an incomplete picture.

That said, I am hesitant to try this out on my Droid. Lithium ion batteries, unlike the old ni-cad batteries which had a memory effect and benefitted from full discharges, are aged more quickly when they go through full discharge/recharge cycles. Lithium ion batteries like the ones in our Droids last longer and hold greater charge when we keep them from dropping to critically low levels and keep them charged in the 40-90% range.

 

[tassadar898]

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?

 

[dr.worm]

not sure why this is a HUGE problem. in my experience once the bat light starts blinking you only have a few minutes left anyway so why would you try to start taking pics? the camera requires a good bit of energy to function and it just cant do so on an empty tank. just dont let it get low

 

[barry99705]

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....

There's no shutter, and it's a fixed iris.

 

[dayo]

I have this problem when the battery gets to 20%... Yea it sucks, but I can live with it. Just hope I am not out somewhere one day and miss a cool pic opportunity because of it.

 

[tassadar898]

I have this problem when the battery gets to 20%... Yea it sucks, but I can live with it. Just hope I am not out somewhere one day and miss a cool pic opportunity because of it.

I've seen it start at 20% but itll correct itself on some photos, it happens more consistent at lower power levels like less than 15%

 

[dayo]

When it happened to me, it didn't correct itself but I also only tried it a few times. When my battery gets low I will try it out again. I wonder if killing all other apps will help, going to try later.

 

[ginigma]

What a stupid poll. Like all the others have said, your battery is low. Some features may not function properly (or at all) in a low battery situation. Charge your phone and forget about it. Or, return your phone and go back to whatever you had previously.

 

[tassadar898]

When it happened to me, it didn't correct itself but I also only tried it a few times. When my battery gets low I will try it out again. I wonder if killing all other apps will help, going to try later.

Let me know, i also tried restarting the phone a bunch of times and that didnt help.

What a stupid poll. Like all the others have said, your battery is low. Some features may not function properly (or at all) in a low battery situation. Charge your phone and forget about it. Or, return your phone and go back to whatever you had previously.

Listen to the Mod, if you dont like the thread dont post

 

[gonzoguy24]

It is better than your phone dying altogether. I am sorry if this has been discussed but did you try a 3MP photo or smaller? And with no flash?

 

[gonzoguy24]

Maybe edit the name the thread to "Slightly annoying camera issue when battery is very low" instead of HUGE Camera bug

 

[werddrew]

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.

It's one thing to say, "Oh, this is odd, does anyone else notice it" and another to sensationalize it by calling it a "HUGE Camera Bug"

For what it's worth, I'm glad this feature exists. If the camera goes away when the battery is low, but the wireless connections stay up, I call that a feature.

 

[TheOldFart]

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?

One of the highest energy draws on the phone is the camera. A digital camera will do much the same thing. When the battery is low, it might take 2 or 3 photos when turned on and then turn off automatically. If you wait a few seconds and turn it on again, you might get 1 more photo out of it. This is because an almost dead battery will recover some voltage while off. This doesn't seem strange on a digital camera because it only takes photos and not a dozen other functions. Even though it won't take a photo, it will often allow you to view a couple of photos before it turns off. Using your reasoning, this would be a huge camera defect.

It is more apparent on the phone because it doesn't need nearly as much power to make a call or browse the web as it does to take a photo, especially if the flash is involved. Remember than when taking a photo nearly every big power draw is on - screen, camera, memory, writing to SD card.

The reason that you are getting less and less of the photo saved is because the battery voltage has gone too low while writing to the SD card. Each additional photo will have less and less power to write. After it saves the portion of the photo, less power is required and that will allow for the lower power draw functions to operate. The battery will also recover some voltage if the camera is turned off and the power requirement is reduced.

My phone is fully charged now, so I can't test this and frankly don't intend to. However, this phone/camera behavior makes perfect sense to me and I would not consider it a defect, and certainly not a HUGE one.

 

[esmith818]

My digital camera (Canon PowerShot A630) does basically the same thing. It's why I carry spare batteries with me.

When they invent a smartphone that runs on warm beer you'll never have to worry about those late night club photos again!

 

[iPhoneMilk]

Huge. Quickly. Bye.

You win sir

 

[TheOldFart]

I know how Motorola could fix this HUGE defect. They could make the battery monitor and battery life remaining based on the highest power draw - the camera. The battery life remaining would say 0% when the battery is too low for the camera and flash to function. Then the camera would function all the way down to zero battery life. Of course, that would take away the ability to make a 15 minute phone call with the remaining actual battery life, but at least it would take care of the camera defect.

 

[tassadar898]

lol i never knew writing HUGE would annoy so many picky people that take serious offense to having that adjective placed for something that i find to be a HUGE problem... none of the flamers are indicating whether this happens on their droid or not

 

[tassadar898]

It is better than your phone dying altogether. I am sorry if this has been discussed but did you try a 3MP photo or smaller? And with no flash?

No flash works well if there is light, it seems to take pictures with flash when there is a bit more lighting and there is no visible cut off. I havnt tried decreasing the MP ill try that next time.