I did some digging. I downloaded the fp6 source tree and blobs (a stunning 817Gb by the way) and started poking around. But it seems that:
- The Fairphone 6 Camera (com.fps.camera) is closed source
- All the noise reduction and smudging probably happens somewhere in the Qualcomm or TCT (TCL Alcatel) binary blobs anyway.
I’m guessing Fairphone, the company, didn’t even implement any of it, anyway, and just partnered with the companies above.
So all in all, I think there’s very little us users/open-source devs can even do about this situation. I’m trying to find an android camera app that allows setting NOISE_REDUCTION_MODE somewhere explicitly, just to see if it makes any difference - if the binary blobs even support the option.
Other than that, one can only use an app like GCam which at least has better colors. I managed to take some of the best photos so far (at least with regard to colors, not resolution) using FreeDCam, but it just requires way too much fiddling around.
I think this is just a trend in the industry. I didn’t mention it before, but I also compared the Pixel 4a to the Pixel 9a, and in my opinion, the Pixel 4a takes better pictures than the 9a. In fact, the photos taken on 9a vs. FP6 are extremely similar. Lower detail resolution with oversaturated colors. And if you start googling, it seems like iPhone and Android users have the same complaints: that older smartphones take better pictures. Probably a combination of Instagrammification (“popping colors”, read: oversaturation), megapixel-craze (higher pixel-density isn’t always good, and 50MP on a phone is ridiculous anyway - the FP6’s blurry pictures shows it), and overall over-reliance on software.
It’s just sad.