NadavSimhi Made ForUnpluggedYear2025RoleUX // UI Designer || Performance Researcher
Framing a shot on the UP Phone camera in a park.

UP Phone
Native Camera

A native, first-party camera: familiar, fast and reliable.

Researched, designed and defined end to end.

[Design Challenge]

The UP Phone shipped a feature-bloated camera app with mediocre performance. The essential flow: open, aim, shoot wasn't reliable, and a cluttered, unfamiliar UI made the everyday photo harder than it should be.

[Goals]
  • #01
    Improve core performance. Faster, smoother, more reliable everyday capture.
  • #02
    Reduce feature bloat. Master the essential modes before adding more.
  • #03
    Make the UX familiar. Patterns users already know from iOS and Android.
UP Phone welcome lockscreen
[Performance Research]

A multi-part process to find where capture failed in the real world, and turn it into product priorities, not just side-by-side images.

[Test #1]
Snap Test
Point & shoot. Speed, focus, motion and sharpness with no careful setup.
[Test #2]
Harsh Sunlight
Strong light & contrast. Highlight retention, dynamic range and skin tone in direct sun.
[Test #3]
Sensor Match
Same-sensor device. A Xiaomi Redmi Note 14 5G on the same sensor series, confirmed with the supplier.
[Test #4]
External Audit
Independent review. Separating UX issues from sensor, processing and tuning.
[Key Findings]
#01

Highlight Clipping

Direct sunlight blew faces and bright surfaces to pure white, skin detail and texture were lost.

UP Phone
iPhone
#02

Subject Exposure

Metering followed the background instead of the person, so the scene looked balanced but the subject came out wrong.

UP Phone
iPhone
#03

Over-Processing

Heavy sharpening and tone mapping made grass, hair, skin and clothing look crunchy and digital.

UP Phone
iPhone
#04

Focus reliability

In quick capture, focus wasn't dependable, frames came back soft and didn't always lock in time.

UP Phone
iPhone
View Full Camera Comparison View External Audit Deck
UP Phone camera modes: Video, Photo, Portrait and Panorama
[UX Workflow]

Before the final baseline I looked at the camera from every angle: performance, UX audits, mode prioritization, competitor patterns and micro-interactions, to fix the performance issues and improve the everyday experience, deciding what to keep, cut and rebuild.

#01
Audit the existing build. Reviewed the current camera experience, then ranked all 14 modes by importance & development effort. Cut to fewer modes to refine performance, and studied leading smartphones' camera apps to find areas of improvement.
ModeImportanceDev Effort
Photo105
Video103
Portrait97
Panorama62
Pro68
High-Res, Slo-Mo, Macro47
GIF, Bokeh, Wide Angle, Beauty1-
#02
Define the camera core. Narrowed to four modes: Photo, Video, Portrait and Panorama, making the core flows fast and reliable before expanding again.
    [Core checklist]
  • ✓Lightweight mode structure
  • ✓Faster point-and-shoot experience
  • ✓Familiar camera behavior
  • ✓Gestures for faster actions
  • ✓Micro-interactions to mask delays
  • ✓Clear focus feedback
  • ✓Reliable & snappy zoom interaction
  • ✓Improve front/rear switching
  • ✓Reduce accidental complexity
  • ✓Better first-use confidence
  • ✓Engineering-ready baseline
[4 Modes, Consistent UX]

The final baseline brought the full camera experience into one focused system: performance direction, interaction rules, gestures, feedback, haptics, SFX, states, and edge cases. From the original 14 modes, four were selected as the core experience:

00:00:00
16:9
.51×23
VIDEOPHOTOPORTRAIT
01
Video
4:3
.51×23
VIDEOPHOTOPORTRAIT
02
Photo - Main View
4:3
.51×23
PHOTOPORTRAITPANO
03
Portrait
➞
.51×23
PORTRAITPANO
04
Pano
View the Full Baseline
[Micro-Interactions & Gestures]
Use left&right keys to navigate between prototypes ‹›
[Capture Interaction]
Take A Photo
[SFX and Haptics]

I designed a complete feedback layer using sound effects and haptics, so the camera could confirm actions without pulling the user's attention away from the viewfinder. to create the system, I built an internal haptic recording app to capture,

Tap a tier to feel it: real vibration on Android, a visual pulse elsewhere.

ActionFeedbackSFX
Photo Capture (Shutter)[Large]
Press and Hold to Record[Large]
Start Recording[Large]
Stop Recording[Large]
Pause Recording[Medium]
Capture While Recording[Medium]-
Step-zoom via preset (e.g., 1× → 2×)[Medium]-
Pinch to zoom or use the zoom slider[Small]-
Switch Shooting mode[Small]-
Switch Front/Back Camera[Small]-
Any Flash Interaction[Small]-
Tap To Focus[Medium]-
Change Exposure Value[Small]-
Start/Stop Pano Capture[Large]-
Panorma Drift[Large]-