What you need to know
- Google Camera 7.1 is out with a new design and features.
- Two of the new standout features are Framing hints and Social Share.
- Astrophotography and a new level indicator are also present.
Google Camera 7.1 is out, and with it some changes to the user interface along with a couple of new features. The first thing you'll probably notice is the tweaked interface. Google has now cleaned up the UI quite a bit, giving the Google Camera app a simplified and less cluttered design.
Gone are the distracting icons at the top for motion, timer, and flash. Instead, there is now a downwards arrow icon, and tapping said icon or swiping down will open up a new menu to access the missing options. Along with motion, timer, and flash, Google has also added a new ratio control. This will allow for you to shoot in 4:3 or 16:9, or as Google refers to it — "Wide crop."
The other big change to the UI can be found at the bottom, where the mode options have now been shifted below the shutter button. Down here is where we'll also access one of the latest features to be added to the Google Camera app, known as Social Share.
The new feature allows for you to easily pull up a menu after taking a photo for quick sharing by simply swiping up over the preview image. Social Share supports adding up to three apps and the defaults can be changed from within the settings menu.
Framing hints is the other big new feature to make its debut in Google Camera 7.1, and it does just as its name suggests by giving you suggestions on how to better frame your photos. A simple way to test this out is by taking a selfie and holding the camera down low and tilting it up. Framing hints will then pop up a message suggesting that you "Raise camera for a better angle."
A new level indicator has also been spotted in the app that warns you when your phone is tilted. In order to see it in action, try holding your phone in landscape and tilting it off-axis for several seconds.
The much talked about Astrophotography feature is on board as well. This new mode allows you to take photos with an extremely long exposure for over a minute, and as such requires a tripod to keep the phone steady. You can give it a try by placing the phone on a tripod, switching to Night Sight, and finding an exceptionally dark area.
One feature that our buddies over at XDA-Developers were able to find in the code appears to allow for social media apps to change the depth information of images. This requires photos to save the depth information in the new Dynamic Depth Format which is supported by Android 10. It's still uncertain when this feature will show up and whether it will be a Pixel exclusive or not.
Finally, the shutter button now supports taking videos by long pressing on the button. This feature had popped up in a previous internal dogfood version of the Google Camera app but caused the app to crash. Now, it is fully functional and ready to go.
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