This guide will let Pixel 2 owners fix the annoying Blurry Panorama photo problem via pushing a simple patch. Not present on Pixel 2 XL, the smaller Pixel 2 suffers from an annoying problem where photos taken through a panorama image have wrong focus points resulting in an image which is blurred and lacks sharpness. This issue was first highlighted last year but Google hasn’t yet solved it. Nonetheless, a developer following this issue has come up with a patch that presumably solves this problem. To implement the patch on your Pixel 2 and fix blurry panorama photos, keep reading.
It is puzzling how Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL sport the same hardware yet Pixel 2 is the only device effected by inaccurate infinity focus point when taking panorama photos hence causing blurry photos. Google has already acknowledged this issue but are yet to patch in a permanent fix. Till then, there is an unofficial bug-fix which you can use to implement a work-around that gives accurate and sharp panorama photos.
How to Fix Blurry Panorama Photo Issue on Google Pixel 2
Being a third-party workaround, users would need to make sure of the following requirements before they begin with the actual fix implementation.
Requirements:
- Google Pixel 2 should be Rooted with Magisk. – How to Root Pixel 2 on Android 8.1 Oreo via Magisk.
- This workaround is based off of walleye-opm4.171019.021.q1-factory-a4b25146 firmware. Other versions might not work.
- Pixel 2 should already have an unlocked bootloader. – How to Unlock Bootloader on Google Pixel 2.
Once you have made sure of all the requirements, read ahead:
Step 1 – Make sure Fastboot is configured and properly installed on your computer. How? See here: How to Set Up ADB and Fastboot with Android SDK.
Step 2 – Make sure you have disabled dm_verity/AVB2.0 through Magisk.
Step 3 – Download the following .SO file:
Camera Patch: camera.msm8998.patch3.so
Step 4 – Open up command prompt in the exact location where you downloaded the file in Step 2. On Windows, hold Shift and right-click within the explorer window and click on Open Command Window here.
Step 5 – Execute the following commands:
adb push camera.msm8998.patch3.so /data/local/tmp
adb shell mount -o remount,rw /vendor
adb shell cp /data/local/tmp/camera.msm8998.patch3.so /vendor/lib/hw
adb shell mv /vendor/lib/hw/camera.msm8998.so /vendor/lib/hw/camera.msm8998.old.so
adb shell mv /vendor/lib/hw/camera.msm8998.patch3.so /vendor/lib/hw/camera.msm8998.so
Step 6 – After successfully implementing all the above commands, reboot your phone.
That’s it! Your Pixel 2 should now have correct infinity focus points set for a sharper Panorama image. Do let us know about your experience with this mod in the comments below.
