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Motorola Promises Fix For Droid's Goofy Camera

The Motorola Droid has one of the weirdest bugs I've ever heard about. It concerns the camera. It seems some users are finding that the autofocus doesn't work quite right. Motorola says a software fix is on the way.

Seriously, this is the strangest issue I've ever heard about when it comes to software bugs. Earlier this week, reports from end users came to a head concerning the Droid's camera. The autofocus feature appeared to be acting wonky. It wouldn't focus, and then suddenly it did.

I tested it out and noticed that last weekend the Droid wouldn't autofocus at all. Later in the week, it worked just fine. This fits the pattern of a bug described by Google engineer Dan Morrill.

Morrill said, "There's a rounding-error bug in the camera driver's autofocus routine (which uses a timestamp) that causes autofocus to behave poorly on a 24.5-day cycle. That is, it'll work for 24.5 days, then have poor performance for 24.5 days, then work again." Yeah, I know, weird right?

Well, Motorola has acknowledged the problem and says that a fix is on the way.

Motorola spokesperson Juli Burda told me in an email, "With Droid, and with the rest of our growing portfolio of Android-based devices, we will continue to evolve and improve the overall consumer experience with periodic software updates. The feedback we've been hearing on the Droid camera is one of those items that will be addressed permanently with an upcoming OTA software update. The advanced technology of the Droid means customers will only have to accept the download to their phones for continued use and enjoyment of this feature packed Android phone."

Burda didn't say when the software update would be passed down to owners of the Droid, but rest assured knowing that it is on the way.

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