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Android 14 adds support for using smartphones as a webcams
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this post was submitted on 21 Sep 2023
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Technology
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The fact that phones haven't been able to to this easily/natively/what have you is wild. Similarly, the fact that you can't use old tablets as external monitors without, in my experience of quite a few, significantly buggy software that's got significant lag in the best of times, is pretty wild. Sure, the technical hurdles aren't small, but damn.
I've got a reasonably high end newish tablet (Galaxy S7+) that I can use miracast to use wirelessly as an extra PC monitor. It works quite well... if I'm near to a high quality new router. But can I just plug the tablet in and use it as a monitor with my laptop? Not remotely well.
It's been a year or two, maybe I should check for new software again.
I hope we'll see more of this as USB type C DisplayPort Alt Mode catches on.
Not available on Pixel
Duet display works well
You can plug an iPad to a MacBook via usb c and use it as an external monitor and it works really well in my experience. Kinda makes me wonder if there isn't a patent somewhere preventing it from wider use.
It should work wirelessly as well
Yeah it does, but definitely not as well. I've had much better results with the USB connected directly.
Huh? It works perfectly without a wire.
It doesn't use your wifi router, it uses a direct (peer to peer) wifi connection between your computer and the tablet, which if they're next to each other (e.g. a laptop and a tablet), will be faster than USB.
If it's a tower PC under a timber desk with a crappy wifi antenna, then yeah that won't work as well as a cable. Timber is pretty effective at blocking wifi.
My statement is based on direct experience of janky frame drops between an iPad pro and a MacBook pro sitting next to each other on the couch. I suspected some potential interference issues so I went back to USB and it was buttery smooth again. Might not match your experience but in my environment that's how it went down.
Depends on USB gen. Because 3.2 can transfer data faster than WiFi 6
Ive been using an app called SuperDisplay. It allows to connect an android device through cable. It only requires to install their software on the PC first. It's a paid app with 3-day trial, so you can test how it works.
I hate that this is only just now coming in Android 14. I have old phones I would love to be able to set up as webcams for 3D print monitoring, but of course they haven't been updated in years and will never get this feature.
This is already possible - there are apps that will let you use any android phone as an IP camera, which you can then view from any other computer or phone on the same WiFi/network
The real blocker here is the kernel must be compiled with UVC support, which is only enabled by default on many devices since Android 12. Custom ROM could enable this on older android devices, but I doubt it'll happen because custom ROM usually reuse the device's kernel instead of compiling their own version of kernel.
there are many apps that will let you do this. I use an app called IP Webcam
Sure, I tried the same app actually, but it needing to go over the network was a pretty big drawback. This sounds like a wired connection that will be recognized as a camera by any PC.
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Lenovo has a few tablets with HDMI input, but yeah it should be a basic feature over usb-c for all devices.
A Philips phone did that and it wasn't even Android, probably like 15 years ago.
I would suggest trying spacedesk. It's not great, but when it works it even works over USB.