Trouble Accessing Front Camera on Android Galaxy S3

Question

I have a small app I have been working on that uses the front camera. The way I have been obtaining use of the front camera seems to work on most phones, but users have been reporting trouble on the S3 and various other new devices. The way I have been accessing the front camera is like so:

// Find the ID of the front camera
        CameraInfo cameraInfo = new CameraInfo();
        for(int i = 0; i < numberOfCameras; i++) {
            Camera.getCameraInfo(i, cameraInfo);
            if(cameraInfo.facing == CameraInfo.CAMERA_FACING_FRONT) {
                defaultCameraId = i;
                mCameraFound = true;
            }
        }
        if(!mCameraFound) 
            displayDialog(8);

From some of the error reporting I've added into the app, I've noticed the S3 actually finds the front camera, but users report it only shows a blank screen? I have only been able to test on the devices I have (GNex and N7). I was hoping someone here may have some experience with this or may be able to help me solve this issue. If you want to try the app out on your S3, check the link below. Thanks in advance.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wckd_dev.mirror

EDIT: I created a MirrorView object which contains a TextureView used for the preview. The MirrorView object implements a SurfaceTextureListener. Within the onSurfaceTextureAvailable() method is where the preview is started. I also created a method for restarting the preview after the app has gone from hidden back to visible.

So this is called when the app is first started:

    @Override
    public void onSurfaceTextureAvailable(SurfaceTexture surface, int width, int height) {
        try {
            if (mCamera != null) {

                Camera.Parameters parameters = mCamera.getParameters();
                parameters.setPreviewSize(mPreviewSize.height, mPreviewSize.width);
                requestLayout();

                mCamera.setParameters(parameters);
                mCamera.setPreviewTexture(surface);
                mCamera.startPreview();
            }
        } 
        catch(RuntimeException e) {
            // Log.e(TAG, "RuntimeException caused by setPreviewTexture()", exception);
        }
        catch (IOException e) {
            // Log.e(TAG, "IOException caused by setPreviewTexture()", exception);
        }
    }

The restartPreview call is to an identical (but separate) method. From some of the debug data I've been collecting through users, I've noticed that the app finds two camera on the S III and selects the id matching CAMERA_FACING_FRONT. Also, this issue doesn't seem to be happening on all S III. I have users who have feedback reporting as much. The latest report from a user experiencing this issue was an AT&T S III user. Any help would be appreciated!

Answer 1

Got some face time with an S3 tonight that was experiencing this issue with my app. Here what was going on. The TextureView relies on 2d hardware acceleration which is supposed to on by default (from what I understood) on 4.0+ devices. It wasn't turning on (for my app at least) on his phone. The fix was as simple as adding a single line in the manifest (under application).

android:hardwareAcceleration = "true"