The camera app that Google puts on its Pixel phones is one of the best in the business, and now it looks like that same Google camera app is heading to Chrome OS too – it's appeared in the developer channel of the software for the Pixelbook and may well start showing up on other Chromebooks as well.
That would significantly improve the photo-taking capabilities of supported Chrome OS devices, and maybe even introduce extra features like a slow-motion video mode and the ability to launch the smart Google Lens mode from within the camera app.
Now you probably don't want to be taking too many photos with your laptop, but as Chrome OS starts showing up on more tablets and 2-in-1 devices, a decent camera app becomes more important. Most new Chromebooks include support for Android apps too, which is another reason to roll out the Google Camera app.
- Check out what Google Chromebook VPNs are available
New app, better photos
A shortcut to the new camera app was spotted alongside the old camera app by some users running the dev channel of Chrome OS on their devices. For the time being, the new app only seems to launch properly on the Pixelbook, so there's still work to do.
Among the features available in the Google Camera app are support for HDR images, a portrait mode, and Motion Photos (where a little snippet of video is taken with each picture). Whether or not some or all of these features will make it over remains to be seen, but better photos should be the end result.
Based on some digging into the Chrome OS code, it looks as though the new camera will eventually show up for all Chromebooks that can run Android apps. At the time of writing though, Google hasn't said anything officially about the switch.
Via Android Police
