To be fair to Android, iOS isn't offering "good device independent camera apps" either, you only have ~one choice of device with iOS.

Probably the use of "device independent" had other meaning than the usual.

It’s not Android. The Camera 2 API is more than capable of building device independent apps. It’s the developer not using the API for whatever reason.

first time hear this, any more specifics? i used android to develop video conference software and don't recall camera limits

I'm only familiar with this as a user and not a developer, but I've had multiple Android phone where not all camera features available in the Camera app were available to other apps via the APIs:

* not all cameras being available

* stabilisation not working

* 60 FPS unavailable