This day is turning out to be a nightmare for Samsung, as we are now seeing a second major leak about the Galaxy S10 ahead of its launch. Earlier today, we saw all the specs and features of the Galaxy S10 in leaked documents. Now, the folks over at XDA Developers have published a detailed post about the various camera features and improvements we will see on Samsung's upcoming flagship. These features were discovered through code in Samsung's software.
HDR10+ video recording, improved Scene Optimizer, and more
The Galaxy S10 will introduce an ultra-wide camera to Samsung's flagships, and it seems the phone will suggest users if a particular scene should be captured with the ultra-wide camera instead of the regular camera. That will work through the Scene Optimizer feature, and there may also be an option to make the phone automatically switch to the wide-angle camera. Speaking of Scene Optimizer, the S10 will be able to detect up to 30 scenes, up from 20 scenes on the Galaxy S9 and Note 9.
The S10 may also be able to switch between the regular and ultra-wide cameras while recording videos. However, videos shot with the ultra-wide camera may be shot at a maximum of 30 frames per second. Samsung has also improved the Dual Capture feature in Live Focus mode. On current flagships with dual camera setups, the camera can save a picture from both the telephoto and regular lenses. On the S10, you will be also able to save a super wide-angle version of the same scene.
A big highlight is the ability to shoot HDR10+ videos. HDR10+ is Samsung's own HDR format and an alternative to Dolby Vision, and the company's TVs have supported HDR10+ video playback for some time. We may not get the option to shoot 8K videos because the Snapdragon 855 doesn't support it, but the option to record HDR videos should make up for it as not many devices (other than a couple of Sony Xperia phones) are currently capable of doing that.
More useful Flaw Detection, Full HD Super Slow-mo videos
The Galaxy S10 will also make the Flaw Detection feature that debuted on the Galaxy Note 9 considerably better. Instead of just telling you if a person may have blinked or a picture may have come out blurred, Flaw Detection will also tell you if it would be better to capture a particular scene with a different camera mode. For example, if you take a burst shot, the phone will suggest creating a GIF of those burst pictures. If you're taking pictures of food, you will be prompted to try taking the photo in Food mode. Can't fit everyone in the frame? The phone will recommend using the Wide selfie mode.
The leak also confirms features that Samsung has already teased and which were mentioned in the specs leak from earlier today. The S10 will come with ‘Super Steady' video stabilization, an advanced form of optical image stabilization, and users will also be able to shoot Full HD Super Slow-mo videos. Samsung has added the option to capture 0.8 seconds of Super Slow-mo videos as well (the S9 and Note 9 can only shoot 0.2-second and 0.4-second moments).
Galaxy S10 camera experience clearly a huge focus
If you thought that's a lot of new features already, well, there's more. The Galaxy S10 will come with a camera mode called Best Shot. From the description, it seems Samsung will try to automatically take pictures when it realizes the user when it realizes a shot has been perfectly lined up, removing the need for the user to fiddle with the shutter button and risk blurring out the picture in the process. Live Focus will gain something called Bokeh Effects, which seems to be similar to the Stage Lighting feature on the Apple iPhone. These effects will be akin to filters, with options such as turning the background (or the entire image) in Live Focus shots black and white.
Add features like Bright Night to the list, and you get a pretty good indication of how Samsung is taking photography very seriously on its tenth-anniversary Galaxy S flagship. They also tell us that it's not just hardware upgrades we'll find on the Galaxy S10. Samsung is focusing on the software experience as well, and this is perhaps the highest number of new camera features the company has ever added to a new flagship. Not that it surprises us, since the Galaxy S10 is immensely important for the Korean giant. Hopefully, we'll see some of these features and enhancements come to the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy Note 9 as well.
