Google enables Pixel Visual Core HDR+ support for Instagram, Snapchat and WhatsApp

Google’s latest flagship smartphones, the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL are known for their superb cameras. Besides software optimizations along with Artificial Intelligence and machine learning, the custom-made image processing unit (IPU) called Pixel Visual Core is something that help make photos better. While the Pixel Visual Core was only available for stock camera app, Google has now enabled it for third-party apps such as Instagram, WhatsApp and Snapchat.
 
The Pixel Visual Core features eight cores, specially designed to enable camera features such as HDR+. It uses different exposures for generating a single photo, which is helpful in scenes with tricky lighting, allowing you to capture an evenly exposed photo.  The custom SoC is built by Google and allows for faster, low-power image processing.
 
By enabling support for third-party, developers can take advantage of machine learning and computational photography that powers HDR+ functionality of the Pixel 2. While Google has mentioned that the chip can be programmed for other uses too, it has not specified as to what exactly it can do. Google has shared some sample photos showing the HDR+ feature at work, and you can see the examples below.
 
“Pixel Visual Core is built to do heavy-lifting image processing while using less power, which saves battery. That means we’re able to use that additional computing power to improve the quality of your pictures by running the HDR+ algorithm. Like the main Pixel camera, Pixel Visual Core also runs RAISR, which means zoomed-in shots look sharper and more detailed than ever before. Plus, it has Zero Shutter Lag to capture the frame right when you press the shutter, so you can time shots perfectly,” Google said in a blog post.
 
Google also shared sample photos showing the difference between standard shots and the ones processed by the Pixel Visual Core in HDR more. The functionality will be rolling out to Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL smartphones in the next few days along with February security patch.
 

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