ISSUE 72 • ANDROID ADVISOR 91until it’s called into action. It takes its inspiration from
the McClaren 720S Spider supercar, and it generated
lots of media coverage and undoubtedly long lines at
OnePlus’s booth.
Granted it’s a concept of a prototype that’s
probably not shipping for many months (if at all), but
it shows how most smartphone makers are thinking.
Instead of working to make our phones take better
pictures, companies are filling out phones with camera
gimmicks that are flashy but offer no real benefit.
Not to single out OnePlus: Samsung has put a
108Mp camera in the Galaxy S20, which is straight-
up overkill. LG used to be one of the leaders in
smartphone photography, and after filling its phones
with gimmick after gimmick, now it’s struggling to
take basic night shots.
Just look at the Android camera ‘innovations’ we’ve
seen over the past couple of years:
- Pop-upselfiecams
- 180-degreeflipcameras
- Under-screenselfiecameras
- Palm-readingsensors
- Dualaperture
- 3D vein mapping
That’s to say nothing of software gimmicks such
as AI scene selectors, super slow-mo videos and AR
emojis. Smartphone cameras have distracted users
with party tricks, when smartphone makers should be
focusing on the one thing that matters: taking great
pictures, even if there’s a bump, a notch or a bezel.