Google rolls out Night Sight to Pixel cameras, promises bright photos without flash
One of Google’s star features at the launch of its latest Pixel smartphones was its AI-powered Night Sight mode for cameras which promises to brighten photos without the need for flash.
The Californian firm said that it would be making the option available via an update that it will start rolling out from Wednesday. Google is bringing Night Sight to both front and rear cameras on all three generations of the Pixel over the next few days.
The smartphone maker claims Night Sight is particularly useful for landscapes or distant objects which a traditional smartphone flash cannot reach, by taking a burst of photos and adapting to you and the environment.
Machine learning allows the Pixel camera to balance the colour of photos, maintaining their natural colour at night.
Whenever you take a photo, the Pixel camera will come up with a suggestion to use the Night Sight setting – or you can select it yourself under the More menu.
Google is also planning to gradually introduce more AI-powered features to the Pixel at some point, notably a tool to help prevent and block spam phone calls.
Called Virtual Helper, the Google Assistant will offer to screen a call that comes into your phone from an unknown number.
If a user chooses this option, they will be shown a transcript of the AI asking the caller to identify themselves and why they are calling, allowing them to choose whether to take the call or not.
Options on-screen will give users the choice to jump onto the call or send a quick reply such as “I’ll call back later”, as well as options to end the call or mark the number as spam.
