Samsung Galaxy S10 primed for jaw-dropping new camera power

Samsung's incoming Galaxy 10 flagship will be a photo-taking behemoth thanks to this clutch new camera feature

Samsung Galaxy S10

In news that will have camera enthusiasts salivating in anticipation, Samsung Galaxy S10 looks set to ship with a game-changing new feature that promises to transform how wide-angle photos are shot on the handset.

Rumours the Samsung Galaxy S10 will ship with an ultra-wide lens to help take big group shots of friends and family, cityscapes and tall buildings have been floating around for months. This feature in and of itself isn't particularly special, since a load of rival Android devices already have an ultra-wide lens.

However, Samsung seems to have figured out how to solve one of the biggest headaches with these cameras – the fish-bowl effect.

The reason we know this is because, as reported by SamMobile, the new Android Pie beta on the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy Note 9 has just been cracked wide open and some tantalising hints at what the Galaxy S10 will be capable of have leaked out.

Inside the Pie beta is a new software feature dubbed Ultra Wide Lens Correction, which allows ultra wide shots taken on the Galaxy S10 to have their fish-bowl distortion at the edges fixed, with a simple on-off toggle appearing to allow the new feature to be actuated as desired.

Given how impressive ultra-wide shots can be without the distortion corrected, as we've already seen demonstrated with such aplomb on the Huawei Mate 20 Pro, the ability to choose whether to keep the effect or smooth out fish-bowl images from the wide-angle lens is very interesting.

Now, while this new Pie feature could technically just be for Samsung's existing phones with wide-angle lenses (such as the new Galaxy A8 and A9 handsets), we'd be gobsmacked if the South Korean maker didn't bring ultra-wide angle photography to its new flagship, while delivering it in its weaker-specced A-range of devices.

Surely, too, with Samsung recently beaten to the accolade of best Android phone by the wide-angle lens-packing Mate 20 Pro, if it didn't deliver on the Galaxy S10 then it would fall even further behind its direct rival.

Thankfully, based on these rumours, the Galaxy S10's combination of a powerful new ultra wide-angle camera lens and the advanced ultra-wide lens correction in Android 9.0 Pie sounds like it could help Samsung wrestle back the accolade of best camera phone and return to the summit of Android devices. 

Via: DigitalCameraWorld

Robert Jones

Rob has been writing about computing, gaming, mobile, home entertainment technology, toys (specifically Lego and board games), smart home and more for over 15 years. As the editor of PC Gamer, and former Deputy Editor for T3.com, you can find Rob's work in magazines, bookazines and online, as well as on podcasts and videos, too. Outside of his work Rob is passionate about motorbikes, skiing/snowboarding and team sports, with football and cricket his two favourites.