I LOVE Photo Spheres, but even I’ll admit that they can take a fair bit of effort to get ‘right’. According to Evan Rapoport, once you get Android 4.3 they’re about to get a whole lot better.

Evan has advised in a Google+ post, that the Photo Sphere team has been working very hard behind the scenes to add improvements to Photo Spheres that will make them much better. Firstly, alignment and stitching has been improved, horizons will be more level and there will be fewer errors or glitches in your Photo Spheres. Next, they’ve improved exposure compensation for each frame so that exposure for the whole Photo Sphere should remain consistent, improving colouring in high contrast areas.

It’s a great update and I can’t wait to get back out and do some more Photo Spheres so I can see the improvements myself. BUT, While Photospheres seemed to have remained a feature that’s currently only accessible to Nexus devices, which at this stage are all eligible to get Android 4.3, it SHOULD be made available via Google Play Services, surely the whole point of decoupling APIs into it, is so that these updates can be rolled out to other devices.

Have you done any Photo Spheres? Share them in the comments below.

Source: Evan Rapoport.
Via: AndroidCentral.
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    David Anderton

    The main thing I think its missing is the ability to retake a section of the sphere if you mess something up. Seems so simple but as far as I’m aware there is no way to do it yet?

    John Sharpley

    yeah definately. I have an Eiffel tower one where it buggered up a photo because someone walked in just as it took the photo.. ruined the sphere.. hope something changes

    Guest

    Agreed. Tired of waiting around for people to walk out of frame so you can get a clean image. If would also be great if they did not leave holes in the top and bottom.

    John Sharpley

    Vatican City sphere

    Daniel Tyson

    That is super awesome. Crystal clear and 0 artifacts. Have you a link to it on Google Maps or G+?

    John Sharpley

    dont know how to add to google maps and dont have g+ if someone can tell me how to upload to to somewhere that shows it properly then I’ll give it a shot.

    John Sharpley

    have just uploaded it to google maps (after googling how to) so it should appear at the St Peters Square – east of the obelisk. Hope it shows up.

    John Sharpley

    https://maps.google.com/?layer=c&cbp=12,,,,0&panoid=is8ChYwMLuQAAAQIt8LBPA

    kungfutigerr

    It’s there, and it is magnificent!

    Daniel Tyson

    Absolutely fantastic, looks great, did you use a tripod or just handheld?

    John Sharpley

    Hand held. .. even had my 8 month old on my back. Just kept it closer to my chest and turned slowly.

    David Anderton

    awesome work dude

    GreviousMcG

    Beautiful shot, sir but what phones are you using to take this photo? The Nexus 4?

    John Sharpley

    I have downloaded the camera apk on to my Samsung galaxy S4. The good camera on it really helps..

    Guest

    It is uploaded to your Google + account if you have auto-backup turned on. Then you can just share it and it works great.

    Guest

    Vatican City