The Fairphone 6 does have a microphone from hell (it is impossible to record live music, no matter which app you try).
It does get a little (!) better if you switch the Fairphone camera to unprocessed (raw) audio. But on the stock camera app this is not possible. As this is inherited from AOSP, it is open source, too. If Fairphone doesn’t improve the stock camera app, in my view Murena could do it. Simply copy the routines for switching the input stream from the Fairphone camera…
Why wouldn’t I use the Fairphone camera if it has the least little bit better audio? Because the stock camera does have some advantages, too. Like the ability to take photos with 50 Mpix, or a more intuitive switch between video and still photo.
But instead of the stock Camera app (I guess you want to record a video) you could easily use one of the GCam ports, just for testing, which makes also better pictures. Not sure about the sound quality.
Related to sound recording it’s always ridiculous when there’s not even a volume control, it’s almost always automatically controlled which means it uses a lot of dynamic compression, unusable for any music.
Thanks. I’m not really sure what you’re talking of. The link is to some ports of the Camera app Google uses for their Pixel smartphones? Apparently there is no version for Android 15. 12 is a bit ancient…
When I enter “gcam” into FP’s app lounge, I get one result called “GCamera: GCam & HD Pro Photos” by someone called Gcam (com.sgmediapp.gcam version 2.18.4), which looks recent (5.3.2025). It does contain 19 trackers, though (I suppose those “unofficial” ports of Google’s Pixel app will also contain those?). That also claims many spectacular shooting modes.
Also, I get 1 result “Google Pixel Camera”, but that only gets listed, but is not available.
Another result is “GCamGo Camera - GCam LMC 8.4”, version 2.1 of 5.1.2006. Also claims non-standard shooting modes (com.appgcam.gcamera). Just 2 trackers.
And, to maximize the confusion, a G Pro Camera - LMC 8.4 Camera”, claiming to be the “ultimate camera app”. Version 3.1.1 of 17.6.2025 (com.progcamera.gcam"). 11 trackers.
Another one looks promising, Blackmagic Camera. 0 trackers, Version 3.2.3.0010 of 25.3.2026 (com.blackmagicdesign.android.blackmagiccam). One of their screenshots shows a dual level indicator and a color histogram. Which wouldn’t surprise me, given this name (Blackmagic). I wonder if they offer sound stream selection and gain control?
Just installed Blackmagic. Tons of control. Sound stream selection AND gain control… !!! Records in professional format (HEVC) with prof. video color space (Rec.709) etc.
In the lowest setting of gain control, sound is attenuated at roughly -40 dB… This could be sufficient for loud environments, but has to stand a test of that.
These ports run on many devices, they are not at all limited to Pixel smartphones. I used several ones on my FP3 for years now. - The information that a concrete port is “Android 12” doesn’t mean at all you can’t use it on Android 13, 14 or 15. It means you need Android 12 as a minimum. This makes these ports usable on many devices and many Android versions.
I would never use one of these crap things. That’s why I didn’t suggest this. The ports I tried from the website I suggested did never send anything to Google or whatever. I monitor this, so I would have noticed it.
The FP6 uses a Lytia 700C sensor from Sony, that sports 50 Mpix. But: According to the developer of Pro Shot, Fairphone only listed it’s own “Fairphone Camera” app as being stock. This is an Android “feature” since Android 11 that a manufacturer can whitelist his own camera app (meaning: block out all others). Whitelisted camera apps install in a specially protected storage in the phone, and only from inside that all features will be visible.
That is the explanation why you can install the Pro Shot Evaluator, which will tell you what hardware Pro Shot is able to see (and use). And no, 50 MPix resolution is not possible with Pro Shot. Fairphone, so far, has not whitelisted Pro Shot, although the developer says that he applied for being whitelisted. But never received an answer from Fairphone, he says.
This is a anti competition instrument by Google (presumably to “protect” their Pixel phones). I wonder why Fairphone uses this measure, as Fairphone does not sell their apps, and app manufacturers do not sell phones, so they aren’t even competitors?
The same restriction goes for the selfie cam of the FP6. Only with Fairphone apps you can take selfies with native resolution (32 Mpix). All others are restricted to 7.3 Mpix.
