One of the best things about the recently released Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL devices is that it has a lot of goodies to explore for those who are into mobile photography and videography. The Google Camera is chock-ful of new features like Photobooth, Night Sight, Super Res Zoom, etc. Unfortunately for owners of older Pixel devices, apparently these features will not make it to them except for Night Sight. Fortunately for them, there are kind souls who tried to port these features for them.
One of the folks over at XDA Developers did all the hard work of porting said Google Camera features for the Pixel and Pixel 2 owners. Initially, he was able to bring Night Sight to them even before Google releases an official update. Now he has updated the port and includes some of the other features people have been excited about, particularly Photobooth, motion tracking autofocus, and even real-time Google Lens suggestions.
If you’re not yet familiar with some of these features, here’s a quick summary, even though some of the names are a bit self-explanatory. The real-time Google Lens suggestions adds another element to Lens’ image search prowess as you can now get suggestions in real time (of course). The motion tracking autofocus lets you choose an object on your viewfinder and whatever happens to your phone or the object, it will still stay in focus.
Photobooth meanwhile will recognize when you or your friends are doing an action like smiling and automatically take pics when you do that “action”. The port has also added access to HDR+ Enhanced format which brings better color for your subjects in low-lighting conditions. Your phone will also now decide whether your video should be in 1080p at 30fps or 60fps depending on conditions and can even switch while you’re taking a video.
You can install the port on your Pixel or Pixel 2 devices by side-loading the APK from the link below. There are of course limitations like the Portrait mode only works for human faces because not all Pixel devices have dual cameras.
VIA: XDA Developers
