The Intelligent
Camera Phone
How
technology is letting your phone take some breath taking images
The
race to have the best camera on a phone has led to a new technology frontier
being unleashed upon us – The Artificially Intelligent Camera
The
camera on a phone is one of the most important features. But just how
important? Judging by the billboards sprayed across the countryside, the full
page advertisements in newspapers and the non-stop bar rage of photographs
tagged on social media with #shoton hashtags, it may be the most important one.
Companies have staked their reputation and sales targets purely on the optics
of their phones.
There’s
a reason why the camera on a phone has acquired such a legendary status. The
hardware on all phones has already achieved parity. The real difference between
a top-of-the-line flagship and an economy phone is not more than 10 per cent.
The biggest trend of 2017 has been the all new edge-to-edge screens, but that’s
fast becoming a de facto standard. Apps have made sure that a ` 5000 phone
works exactly the same ways as a ` 75,000 phone. Thus the main differentiator
left is the images that your phone can click. The race to have the best camera
on a phone has led to a new technology frontier being unleashed upon us. The
Artificially Intelligent Camera.
Oppo F5
Oppo’s
entire strategy to differentiate and stand out from the rest of the noise has
been around the camera, and specially the selfie. And they’ve largely
succeeded. But with the F5 they’ve forged a whole new path. While the rear
camera is excellent and captures g reat details, the real magic lies up ahead.
They’ve added some AI smarts to the front camera that takes the ar t and craft
of taking selfies to a new level. The front camera is smart enough to know the
subject it is shooting (man, woman, child, pet etc.), throw out hundreds of
focus points to make sure that the face symmetry is enhanced, keep the subject
locked in focus even if the fore g round is constantly changing or in motion,
add real time beauty shot algorithms to smoothen skin tone and appearance, add
filter effects in real time and even add a DSLR-like Bokeh effect with the
subject in sharp focus and the background blur red. In all my tests I was
pleasantly surprised to see that it did most of the things it claimed and
pulled it of f well. I also saw that it learnt more once it knew my face and
gave even better results. If getting a perfect selfie every single time is your
thing, then the Oppo F5 will deliver shockingly good results.
Google Pixel 2
The
initial reaction to the Pixel 2 for most
people has been middling, almost dismissive. But those that stayed the course
and persisted have discovered that the camera on this phone is a window to the
future. For quite some time now, Google’s entire portfolio of things they do
has a serious amount of AI planted within, but with the Pixel 2 it is literally
in your face. The hardware based optics within, sync with a serious amount of
machine lear ning and neural network technology. While most will dismiss this
as just typical technobabble; bear with me for a minute. Neural Tech learns
from every picture you take. It recognises objects, shapes, people, places and
things. And every time it does, it produces a way better result. The Pixel 2
also shoots 10 pictures in the background while you’re taking just that one
shot. It shoots highly underexposed shots so that bright areas don’t wash out,
it shoots overexposed so that dark areas come right through, and it shoots a
few more to enhance colours, shadows and contrasts. Eventually it combines them
all to give you a perfect shot and it does all this on its own within seconds.
AI is also the reason why Goo gle went with a single camera at the back. Its
Portrait mode can distinguish foreground and background, the subject to shoot
and introduce a startling level of great effects due to that. In my experience,
the Pixel 2 shot some breathtaking low-light pictures, excellent portraits
and fantastic night skyline pictures. And it learnt every time I shot
something.
Phones
like these are also the reason why the gap between professional level DSLR and
the camera phone has been shortening. It is impossible to fit the hardware
encased in a giant DSLR into the petite body of a phone. But sometimes it is
not brute force that works, just smart intelligence.
Rajiv Makhni Managing editor, Technology,
NDTV, and the anchor of Gadget Guru, Cell Guru and Newsnet 3
No comments:
Post a Comment