The Google Pixel 2 and 2 XL have many selling points although one of the most-talked about is the general camera experience. This was especially notable on the latest Pixel phones as neither of them came sporting a dual-rear camera setup, unlike the majority of flagship smartphones that did arrive throughout 2017 from other manufacturers. While the camera experience is solid one overall on the Pixel 2 and 2 XL, its ‘Portrait Mode’ has proved especially popular and now it seems it can be made to work on devices other than the two Pixel 2 phones.
This has been made possible through an unofficial port having now become available. This seems to be a collective effort from various developers over at XDA-Developers and is still a work in progress, so those who do install the APK should expect somewhat of an unfinished product, and likely a few updates. In fact, since first being announced by XDA-Developers on January 2, the mod has already been updated and in a fairly significant way. As non-Google phone owners can now also make use of Portrait Mode when taking images using the front-facing camera.
Generally speaking, there does not seem to be any major caveats to note with the only exception being that non-Google devices do need to be running some version of Android 8.0 (Oreo). So far, users have reported the modded version of the app working on the likes of the Xiaomi Mi 5 (and the 5s), the OnePlus 3 (and 3T), the Moto G5S Plus, and even the Samsung Galaxy Note 8. The latter of which is fairly notable as the device in question was running a leaked build of Oreo. Likewise, some of the other devices (such as the Xiaomi Mi 5) was noted as running LineageOS. In addition, owners of older Google phones – such as the original Google Pixel, the Nexus 6P, and the Nexus 5X – have also had success with the modded version of the app. Below is an example of the type of quality which can be expected from the mod, and for reference the images were said to have been taken using a OnePlus 3. For those interested, head over to XDA-Developers through the link below for more information and the option to download.
More info: Pixel 2 Portrait Mode Mod