58 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 68
of impressive software tricks, as well as a camera
setup that’s been both upgraded and downgraded
simultaneously.
Here are five things you need to know about the
new Google Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL.
- Dual camera lenses, at last
The Pixel 4 is taking a page from the iPhone 11’s
design with a rotund backside hump that’s home
to not one, but two camera lenses. Finally. Google
leans heavily on software tricks to power the Pixel’s
amazing photography, but the line-up lingered on a
single camera lens for far too long now.
Both the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL will be outfitted
with a 12Mp dual-pixel sensor as well as a new
16Mp telephoto camera – not a wide-angle lens.
They’re ‘roughly 2x’ and support Google’s Super
Res Zoom technology.
Google is pairing the multi-lens setup with its
computational photography chops to support
features like Live HDR+, White Balancing for truer
colours, and Dual-Camera Exposure – all in real
time. You’ll have separate sliders for shadows and
brightness while you compose your shots.
The more advanced hardware setup also lets the
Pixel 4 extend Google’s Portrait Mode further than
before, letting you add Bokeh-like effects to much
larger objects. The superb Night Sight mode also
receives a boost to enhance shots in the dark, using
the second lens to shorten the time to take a shot,
and computational photography tricks to balance
colours, deepen darks as appropriate, and clean up
