Database Users

[MOD - HOW TO] FFC for the Vibrant - How to do it

Disclaimer: XDA-Developers has zero affiliation and liability with this, and the sale of these parts is being allowed only for the sake of helping the modding community
My original thread was getting cluttered, and XDA asked me to make some changes, so here is the new thread on HOW TO DO THE MOD.
Breaking news available via my twitter feed, or #vibrantFFC
The US/T-Mobile variant of the Samsung Galaxy S had it's FFC borked prior to manufacturing. This has left us an easy way to add it back in and open up the ability to explore video calling. From my experience thus far, their is poor support for software for FFC's in general, but this seems to be changing. As more of these cameras make it out to devs, expect to see more video calling and chatting apps to start appearing in the near future.
To accomplish this you need a few things:
[*]A camera from the international Galaxy S variant, the i9000s. These are available through a wholesaler that requires a minimum order of 3, sometimes more. If you want to go this route and find a buddy, see my thread for that here.
A small size 0 flat head screw driver and phillips screw driver. Most eyeglass repair kits include screw drivers that are close enough in size to work.
An iPod opener tool, or something similiar.
Something to remove the paint from the digitizer where the FFC goes. Denatured alcohol, and the stronger goo gone varieties are known to work
Q-tips
Some balls (not really - its easy) and common sense (goes a long ways)!
An FFC compatibale ROM - eugene's froyo (2.2) or Bionix (2.1)
Open your phone - Remove the battery cover, sd card, sim card, battery. remove the 7 screws around the back plate, then use the iPod opener tool to snap the rear plate off.
Unsnap the various buckles to release the motherboard.
remove the speaker and original camera
turn the main board clockwise for about an inch to allow some space to work
locate the FFC molding. It is above where the original camera was located. You can dry fit the new camera in place to see where the FFC goes. This is the area that the paint needs to be removed from
Use your remover of choice and some qtips to get that paint off of there
Let things completely dry before putting back together. 10 - 30 minutes should be fine
snap new camera in place, check your work.
If it looks good, installation is reverse of removal.
Some ROMs (2.2 base) do not include the font camera driver. If you cannot get it to work, try copying the attached file (unzip first - should have .yuv extension) to /system/camera on your phone. (requres root)

You can get the camera from here.

maybe you can add the pictures from the other thread?

scrizz said:
maybe you can add the pictures from the other thread?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
good point. adding now

Feel free to use min posted 10/3
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

Apologies for the noob question but what do you mean in step 2? Do we actually have to take the motherboard out of the phone like in these videos: http://www.careace.net/2010/06/09/disassembly-of-the-samsung-galaxy-s/ and also is it really necessary to remove the speaker?
EDIT: Sorry for not being descriptive, What I mean is, does the speaker block this "socket"in which the FFC goes? If not then why is it necessary to remove it?

siirial said:
Some ROMs (2.2 base) do not include the font camera driver. If you cannot get it to work, try copying the attached file (unzip first - should have .yuv extension) to /system/camera on your phone. (requres root)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do the files go in /system/camera or in /system/cameradata ?
I am trying to work it on the Bionix 1.7 rom and I keep getting errors.
Here are my mod pics just to show off. hehehehe.

NikolaiT said:
Apologies for the noob question but what do you mean in step 2? Do we actually have to take the motherboard out of the phone like in these videos: http://www.careace.net/2010/06/09/disassembly-of-the-samsung-galaxy-s/ and also is it really necessary to remove the speaker?
EDIT: Sorry for not being descriptive, What I mean is, does the speaker block this "socket"in which the FFC goes? If not then why is it necessary to remove it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That video is a general disassembly. It isn't specific to this mod. You can make the modification without removing the audio socket/speaker.

comment removed (voluntarily, in interest of the company)

I found a youtube video of showing how to install the camera
my apologies if this was widely known video
here is the link anyways,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCFe2qSQZGA

Dude thank you for this, im going to order the camera from you now and get this front facing camera business going....im tired of my evo buddies talkin ****!
Side note.....im getting < 1000 quadrant scores and I saw somewhere that people were getting over 2000 scores with vibrants....any suggestions?

Does anyone have any video samples to show the quality if the video?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

jstanojevich said:
Does anyone have any video samples to show the quality if the video?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=8589612
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=8613761

ZeroIsJdm said:
Dude thank you for this, im going to order the camera from you now and get this front facing camera business going....im tired of my evo buddies talkin ****!
Side note.....im getting < 1000 quadrant scores and I saw somewhere that people were getting over 2000 scores with vibrants....any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
pretty sure its the lag fix

FFC 'mirror app' FC
got an error 'error occired while trying to open the FFC. The camera could not be started....'
Any Ideas? Loaded Bionix 1.9.1 from Stock today, copied datapattern_front_420sp.yuv in \system\cameradata and tried TWO different cameras
Still nothing. Any other way to test it?
Thanks for any insight

it2steve said:
got an error 'error occired while trying to open the FFC. The camera could not be started....'
Any Ideas? Loaded Bionix 1.9.1 from Stock today, copied datapattern_front_420sp.yuv in \system\cameradata and tried TWO different cameras
Still nothing. Any other way to test it?
Thanks for any insight
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you may want to reflash the rom

it2steve said:
got an error 'error occired while trying to open the FFC. The camera could not be started....'
Any Ideas? Loaded Bionix 1.9.1 from Stock today, copied datapattern_front_420sp.yuv in \system\cameradata and tried TWO different cameras
Still nothing. Any other way to test it?
Thanks for any insight
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It won't run on stock kernel. There are several threads going about the cams. You may want to read them to get a full sense of whats going on. But, it looks promising.

Got mine installed a few minutes ago. I'm not on a rom that supports the FFC but the rear camera works, no lines or fuzziness as some reported. On first opening the camera app I tried to tap to focus and got a force close. Can't get it to happen again so I'm not sure why that happened. Other than that it's working perfectly.
I did notice on installing the camera that NOTHING but the camera needs to be unsnapped. There is a ribbon cable that has to be flexed into place to install the new one but it does save you from removing the whole board (not that it's hard but why bother). On installing the new camera I did notice almost a snap when the ffc popped into place.

Did anyone manage to get a perfectly round hole? I tried for a couple hours with a qtip,some goo gone, and a screwdriver. While the results are respectable I'm curious if anyone found a way?
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

tank65 said:
pretty sure its the lag fix
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah....I saw something about how to apply the lag fix...but they gave absolutly not instructions on what it is or how to do it. Would you kindly point me in the right direction
This is what he said about how to apply the lagfix but honestly...no idea what im doing.
"How-to Apply Lagfix to My Rom " Do Not Use another Lagfix as it Breaks my PLaylogos1 Script..."
adb shell
su
mv /system/bin/userinit.sh /system/bin/used
reboot
Then
adb shell
su
busybox dd if=/dev/zero of=/data/dataimg bs=1024 count=1048576
busybox mknod /dev/loop0 b 7 0
busybox losetup /dev/loop0 /data/dataimg
busybox mkfs.ext2 /dev/loop0
mkdir /data/data1
mv /system/bin/used /system/bin/userinit.sh
reboot
Thanks again

Dual/Multi touch firmware update bad colour depth

Hi All,
I just managed to install the Dualtouch firmware on my X10 but it appears to have ruined the colour depth of the phone. Wallpapers photos etc. have bad dithering and jpeg artifacts show up really badly. Has anyone else noticed this? Is there anything I can do about it?
Cheers.

Hmmm....everything seems perfect for me. Just updated about 3 hours ago...got no complaints yet. My wallpapers look awesome! Especially the new ones they added.
Sent from my X10a using XDA App

Hi,
the same here: no problems! I have always noted not a very good quality when zooming to 100% a photo, but this is a problem of Android 2.1 because it uses a lower color depth

PaVi90 said:
Hi,
the same here: no problems! I have always noted not a very good quality when zooming to 100% a photo, but this is a problem of Android 2.1 because it uses a lower color depth
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I had updated to 2.1 (update 1) before I applied the dual-touch firmware following the instructions found on this site (using the flashtool and placing the appropriate dual-touch files in the firmware folder and flashing it on there). Before I did this all colours looked normal and afterwards it's all very... contrasty and doesn't look as good...

RaVe-N said:
Well, I had updated to 2.1 (update 1) before I applied the dual-touch firmware following the instructions found on this site (using the flashtool and placing the appropriate dual-touch files in the firmware folder and flashing it on there). Before I did this all colours looked normal and afterwards it's all very... contrasty and doesn't look as good...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you mean when checking mediascape? i noticed that it looks weird maybe is just the update idk

It was bad on everything, mediascape, my launcher wallpaper, widgets, everythin... I've since installed FreeX10 2.2.1 and man it's soooo quick and doesn't seem to have the same issue with colours so

[Q] About kernel and camera.

Hi
I am using stock rom (Andro 2.2.1 - Kernel 2.6.32.9-perf)
I updated my rom to Miui 1.10.21 last night and I didn't like it much so I came back to my orginal.
My stock rom is very stable and problem free but :
Miui rom has better camera which one have touch focus like iphone 4.
Is it because different software , better kernel or both ?
I want that camera at my stock rom. What can I do ?
Also I want to update my orginal rom's kernel to better one without update rom.
Can anyone to recommend me a good kernel. ?

Im in same situation as you. Same rom / Same kernel. Really would like to see that camera on this factory stock. I will go for other custom roms later. But for now, As Im begginer, just want to test this rom first.
And maybe you should try CM7 or Oxygen.. Maybe there is your solution for camera with quality rom.

try this:
replace your original camera app with the miuicamera.apk in 7system/app.

levibuko said:
try this:
replace your original camera app with the miuicamera.apk in 7system/app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I moved apk file to the system/app and renamed "Camera.apk". (Backed up orginal)
I didn't see it in menu then I did reboot still there is no camera.
and I opened root explorer again pressed on camera.apk it said : Ayrıştırma Hatası (Extraction Error)

reD TigeR said:
I moved apk file to the system/app and renamed "Camera.apk". (Backed up orginal)
I didn't see it in menu then I did reboot still there is no camera.
and I opened root explorer again pressed on camera.apk it said : Ayrıştırma Hatası (Extraction Error)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have same problem. Did everything you said and it seems its not compatible.

up!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Same thing here.. I even looked up online and downloaded a few miui camera apk but all say extraction error... only problem i can see is.. maybe it's for 2.3 but stock rom is 2.2

still have no solution?

up !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi,
Firstly, what do your "up!!!!" posts mean? Most of us like the xda-developers community because of the sober discussions here. From here on, please have a little patience. We are here to help you.
As I understand, you want the touch to focus functionality. A free app called "Camera 360" has this feature. Get it from the market, use it on your stock ROM and have fun!
Also, MIUI is much much better than the stock ROM. If youre having issues with it, feel free to discuss them in the MIUI thread in the "Android Development" section.
Soumen

soumen08 said:
Hi,
Firstly, what do your "up!!!!" posts mean? Most of us like the xda-developers community because of the sober discussions here. From here on, please have a little patience. We are here to help you.
As I understand, you want the touch to focus functionality. A free app called "Camera 360" has this feature. Get it from the market, use it on your stock ROM and have fun!
Also, MIUI is much much better than the stock ROM. If youre having issues with it, feel free to discuss them in the MIUI thread in the "Android Development" section.
Soumen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well I wanted to keep post up because no one answered straightly :\
and thanks for your answer also :
I tried lgcamera , camera360 , camera zoom fx , camera advance and sleek camera.
Took same shots with each one and compared.
Camera zoom fx and camera 360 is nice but touch to zoom is not full functional at camera 360 , usually wrong focus problem.
Also lgcamera is good at video recording.
But main question is can I install new kernel without change stock rom ?
I have no problems with stock rom

Hi,
The post does not need to be kept alive. Truth is, if people are interested in the post, it will stay alive on its own. If you keep putting dummy posts, it isn't going to help in any way and might indeed be counterproductive. Infact, I thought several times before replying to this post. Most OPs who are like this are difficult to have any kind of constructive discussion with.
So, camera360 focuses in the wrong place? I find that hard to believe. In any case, I fail to see what the kernel will do to fix that. I would like it if you clarified a little. You have me totally confused here. Do you want a new kernel? If so, why? Do you want a camera with touch to focus? Do you want both?
Soumen

soumen08 said:
Hi,
The post does not need to be kept alive. Truth is, if people are interested in the post, it will stay alive on its own. If you keep putting dummy posts, it isn't going to help in any way and might indeed be counterproductive. Infact, I thought several times before replying to this post. Most OPs who are like this are difficult to have any kind of constructive discussion with.
So, camera360 focuses in the wrong place? I find that hard to believe. In any case, I fail to see what the kernel will do to fix that. I would like it if you clarified a little. You have me totally confused here. Do you want a new kernel? If so, why? Do you want a camera with touch to focus? Do you want both?
Soumen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My camera 360 Settings :
(P) Normal Mode --> Normal
Shot Mode [Auto Focus]
Focus Mode [Press scren to focus; Click shot button to shoot]
I put 3 objects to top of my desk , one is close , one is far and other one is between them.
Because of my angle I have background too (Like a earphones and ex. HDD)
When I press and focus closest one that object dosent look focused , Also after I take a shoot middle one is sharp and closest one is blurred.
When I press middle one my background is sharp that three object is blur.
When I press the far one middle one is sharp other scenes are blur.
Also I tried this with macro. Still cant focus where I press. And I didnt go so close it was focusable distance.
--------------------
About kernel.
I heard some kernels are better than stock kernel.
I am happy with my rom I dont have any problem. But I am thinkin If I update my kernel or change my kernel only is there a any improvements at my phone.

Hi,
Ill try something similar with camera 360 (and the MIUI camera app) in a bit and post results. If it is indeed how you say it is, then the algorithm is flawed and there is little we can do about it.
About the kernel, it is possible to use other kernels as far as I can see. Make a backup of your boot.img and recovery.img and try out some other kernel. Franco's kernel should be fine. In case it does not work, we can always go back to the older ones. Truthfully speaking, you should actually use some of the gingerbread roms instead, they are much more battery efficient for one thing.
Soumen

DESIRE camera apk

Hi guys,
I was backing up mu photos the other day and realized my camera shots from my stock, non rooted days were much better.
First, yes I am on a sense ROM, and yes I searched both XDA and google.
Does anyone have the stock camera apk from the official ROMs froyo or gingerbread? I wouldn't mind testing to see if the "old" cameras really were better.
I rarely use my phone for video, but lots for pics. I do not want opinions on what ROM has a better camera, just the stock one so that I can do a backup, test the old one, and compare images.
Once I have the old apk, I will even post comparison photos if anyone else is interested.
Thanks

Umm I think the problem is not HTCcamera.apk
In my opinion the problem is GB kernel

maybe you should download a stock rom nad just take the cam apk out of it ?

+1 for this.. I have the same feelings about photos but I never actually compared.

There's also the ol' scratches on the battery cover's lens issue.. Have you checked that yet? Didn't really specify in what way your new photos are not as good..

The problem is GB with sense, if you want better pictures then use a froyo sense rom or if you want GB you can try Miui or CM 7.10 roms, all the others they make dark pictures when using the flash in the dark.

Thanks for the replies guys, I have the official Telus Froyo ROM but as an RUU. I'll download a rooted stock froyo ROM and do 2 things,
1. Pull the apk and try with my current GB ROM
2. Backup, flash a rooted stock froyo and test.
And yes, I did think of the scratched cover thing, I removed the cover and took pics.......they still lok like sh** compared to my old stock froyo photos.
It migt be a GB thing though, my photos from my LeeDroid froyo ROM days look way better as well.
Thanks again, when I have the time to do all the necaesary backing up, flashing and restoring I'll tack pics and test this out.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using Tapatalk

i don`t think the problem is gb sense

I agree that the original froyo camera has better quality but not that much better. I use miui and it has a fairly decent camera (with full screen 4mp). It doesn't have 720p video but the video is a lot smoother, tho still not much in terms of quality.

This probably doesn't really help anyone, but the Desire's camera isn't very good to begin with. Honestly, being a photography enthusiast, I am usually quite disappointed with the picture quality from the camera. My previous two phones are Sony Ericsson; A W810 followed by a W960. Despite the W810 having only 2MP and the W860 having 3.2MP, they still took FAR better pictures than the 5MP on the Desire. Especially with the W810, I was thoroughly impressed with it's picture quality and low light performance. Sure the Desire's photos look good on it's screen, but full size on a monitor typically leads to cringing.
I've been considering moving back to Sony phones, specifically the Arc (S). I just need to get some play time with one to test out the camera and ergonomics..

So you're saying that you're a photography enthusiast and you need a phone with a good camera. What do you need it for? An enthusiast always carries some sort of a true (dedicated) camera with him, be it a compact, dSLR or a SLR.

i have same problem after i rooted phone. i installed runnymede ROM but still quality of photographs are not same my first photographs with this phone, nothing changed:S

TVTV said:
So you're saying that you're a photography enthusiast and you need a phone with a good camera. What do you need it for? An enthusiast always carries some sort of a true (dedicated) camera with him, be it a compact, dSLR or a SLR.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try carrying an awkward couple of pounds around with you everywhere.. My phone is on me at all times anyway, so when I see something inspiring, I use what I have. I don't see any point in also carrying a point-and-shoot when I know that a commendable camera can be put into a phone (ie iphone4, Nokia 808) but typically isn't these days.

HtcCamera APK attatched
Attached HTC Camera APK but I dont know if it would do any good. From Runnymede AIO Special Edition.

Did it work?

Omcho said:
Did it work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same question here...

Following this thread with interest because I know what the TS-er means. Pictures taken with a stock Froyo or GB rom have better quality and especially brighter flash in dark conditions.
I believe this to be kernel-related. My phone's on An-Droid 2.2.0 now (imho the best rom for our devices) and with the custom kernel that comes with it the camera's flash doesn't 'peak' at the moment a picture is taken. Flashing the stock kernel (or an snq one) changed this and now the camera flash is ok again.
Sent from my HTC Desire using xda premium

lol install amze cam and that is it
Sent from my HTC Desire using xda premium

If you use a port its normal i trink, but with most aosps pole cyanogenmod its the same for me

I have HTCCamera.apk from USCC froyo stock rom. I already try to install with adb push and reboot, but the camera app won't show up in app list. I want to change the camera.apk from CM7 because the result and features is not good enough. Can I use HTCCamera.apk in CM7?

[Q] Rooting and modding questions

Hi all
Just got my new G2, and love it. However, Im wanting to use a better camera.
Theres a lot of camera mods around the web.. Im not bothered about 4k video, as im more of a photographer, so im looking for a mod which focuses more on taking pictures and a good manual mode.
Which one would you recommend?
They all seem to require root access and Ive never rooted before, also Im on 20d rom, if I root, can i update the G2.. and is it safe to go back so i can get OTA updates.
Many Thanks

No it is not safe to update with root but you can always flash back and it will be like nothing was ever touched on it
sent from my T-Mobile LG-VS980

spinninbsod said:
No it is not safe to update with root but you can always flash back and it will be like nothing was ever touched on it
sent from my T-Mobile LG-VS980
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for that.. so i downloaded the LG Flash tool and the D20 UK.kdz,in case I decide to rollback. After reading around Ive found 2 of the best camera mods out there are
Xdabbeb's Camera Mod and Jishnu's Camera Mod
So can anyone guide me as the one that would be better used for photography, such as ISO, apature maybe even a shutter speed.. rather than 4k video, and if they are the same.. which oneis easier to install for a newbie to rooting.
Thanks