Google has surprised Android users by adding a new Google Camera app to the Google Play Store. GottaBeMobile reports that rumors of a stand-alone camera app from Google have been circulating for a while, but the sudden appearance of the app live on the Play Store was unexpected. The app’s most notable feature is the ability to blur parts of an image’s background, similar to the popular uFocus feature of the new HTC One M8.
Lens Blur to Compete with uFocus
The new Google Camera app, available to all Android users running KitKat 4.4 or higher, brings a number of noteworthy features to the Android picture-taking experience. Lens Blur is getting the most attention because it is a popular feature of two new flagship phones, the HTC One M8 and Samsung’s Galaxy S5. As TechCrunch noted, Google has a winning strategy on their hands by “democratizing” these special features and making them available to all.
Lens Blur allows the user to select focal points in an image. The parts of the image around the focal point are then blurred to give the appearance of depth of field, the DSLR effect that these focus features are attempting to mimic. “Lens Blur replaces the need for a large optical system with computer vision algorithms and optimization techniques that are run entirely on the mobile device, simulating a larger lens and aperture in order to create a 3-D model of the world,” Google’s Research team said on the Google + blog. While Lens Blur works well for still subjects, it’s not possible for users to get the same effect on a moving object, as it is with HTC’s uFocus.
What Else the New Google Camera App Offers
Overall, the app offers a much cleaner and more user-friendly interface, reports TechCrunch, and includes the notable Photo Sphere and Panorama features. Panorama is a regular landscape panorama option. Photo Sphere is an extension of the panorama shot that gives users the ability to take full 360-degree “immersive snapshots,” which go beyond the simple horizontal panorama.
Some notable omissions from the new app include white balance, an expert setting to help the camera recognize the true color settings and make color corrections, and a timer option—which means no all-inclusive group shots since someone has to be holding the camera to take a photo. The app is expected to become available to all Android users in the future.
Would you switch from your phone’s native camera app to the Google Camera app?
Image courtesy of Flickr
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