It seems that for the last few days, no matter where you go, there’s a Pixel 4 or 4 XL leak. Now, those leaks are creating new leaks.
Vietnamese YouTube channel Re.lab, which shared details of how the Pixel 4 XL handles gaming, recently shared the phone’s camera app with XDA Developers’ Mishaal Rahman. Sporting APK version 7.0, Rahman was able to install it on a Pixel 2 XL and 3 XL and get it running.
Camera 7.0 features a new interface and several new features that hint at what’s to come in the Pixel 4 and 4 XL. Below is a breakdown of what’s new in the Camera app.
Changes to the Camera app design
On the interface side, Rahman notes that the camera modes now sit below the shutter button, camera switch and gallery. Additionally, the camera switch button now resides within a circle to match the other buttons.
Additionally, when taking a 16:9 photo, almost the entire screen is used, save a small space along the bottom where the gesture navigation sits. The camera controls float over the viewfinder. As with previous versions of the camera app, users can still swipe left or right on the viewfinder the cycle through camera modes.
It’s also worth noting that Camera 7.0 does away with the top bar, which featured controls for Motion Photos, timer and flash. Instead, users can tap on a dropdown arrow or swipe down on the viewfinder to open a box with all these controls. The box features different controls depending on which camera mode you’re using. There’s also a button to jump into the app’s Settings, so you don’t have to go to the ‘More’ page anymore.
Google’s Night Sight mode now has a new ‘Infinity’ focus option, which may help with the leaked ‘astrophotography’ feature. The night photography mode previously offered three focus levels: Autofocus, ‘Near’ and ‘Far.’ Google says Near focusses at about four feet while Far focusses at about 12.
Camera 7.0 also tweaks the zoom and exposure sliders, making them smoother. Additionally, the zoom slider now tells you the zoom level, and the exposure slider no longer shows you the exposure level.
Users can long-press the shutter button in the Camera mode to start recording a video for as long as you hold the button. This functionality appears similar to that found in apps like Snapchat, or in Apple’s recently announced iPhone 11, 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max camera app.
Finally, Camera 7.0 adds suggestions to the Time Lapse mode to indicate which speed works best for which scenario and there’s a new horizon levelling circle to help straighten your phone.
Changes to the Camera app’s Settings
In the Camera’s Settings menu, Rahman uncovered a new ‘Camera coaching’ feature that provides tips on how to take better photos based on the scene. XDA also spotted some related scene detection code in the app. Turning off the setting disables hints like ‘Try Night Sight’ when there are low lighting conditions or ‘Try Portrait Mode’ when it detects a face.
Settings also features two resolution options for photos: Full and Medium. Medium produces 4.1MP, 16:9 photos on the Pixel 3 XL, according to XDA.
Under the Advanced Settings section, there is also an option to ‘save selfie as previewed’ which, when disabled, turns off mirroring of front-facing camera shots.
Finally, one option Rahman managed to pull up on the Pixel 3 XL exclusively was ‘HDR+ control.’ It isn’t really a new feature, but it allows you to show the manual control for HDR+ in the settings box in the primary Camera mode.
Overall, it looks like there’s a bunch of new stuff coming in the next Camera app, even for current Pixel owners. The breakdown hinted at a few new Pixel 4 and 4 XL features as well.
Source: XDA Developers
