Pixel 4 May Ship With Live HDR, Better Wide-angle Selfies, Audio Zoom and More

Sep. 9, 2019



A teardown of the latest version of the Google Camera APK has seemingly revealed that the upcoming Pixel smartphones are likely to pack a number of interesting new camera features.According to XDA, Google Camera v6.3 comes with code that suggests the Pixel 4 will have atelephoto camera– which is something that hasalready been rumored earlier.

The APK deep dive by XDA Senior Member,cstark27, also seemingly revealed that another upcoming feature isAudio Zoomthat will use the phone’s microphones to adjust the audio focus when zooming in or out. A similar feature called Zoom-in Mic can already be found in the Galaxy Note 10, so it will be interesting to see how Google implements it in the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL.

Another cool feature isLive HDRthat is expected to apply HDR to the camera viewfinder in real-time. According to the report, the feature will very likely be based on anHDR algorithm called HDRNetthat’s been developed by the company’s engineers in collaboration with MIT researchers. It’s not immediately clear if the feature is ready for prime-time just yet, but will certainly be a welcome addition if it works as planned.

Next up is another algorithm that will deliver better wide-angle selfies bycorrecting foreground distortion in wide-angle portraits. According toa paperpublished by Google researchers, YiChang Shih, Wei-Sheng Lai and Chia-Kai Liang, the algorithm will look to correct a known problem with wide-angle lenses that typically warps anything in the foreground, creating a fishbowl effect while shooting wide-angle photos.Image Courtesy: YiChang Shih, Wei-Sheng Lai, Chia-Kai Liang

GIF Courtesy: Khush Jammu (via Medium)

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