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Motorola might be the latest brand to offer a night mode for its cameras

Hopefully Motorola's Night Vision mode has more in common with Google and HUAWEI than OnePlus.
By
April 18, 2019
The back of the Moto Z3.

Night mode has become one of the most important tools on smartphones today, allowing mobile cameras to get much better results in low-light conditions. Loads of brands have hopped aboard the trend in the past year or so, and it now looks like Motorola is next in line.

XDA-Developers has uncovered evidence of a so-called Night Vision mode for the Moto G7 Plus and upcoming Motorola One Vision. The name strongly suggests we’re looking at a night mode as seen on other handsets, but we don’t know anything else about this feature just yet.

Low-light modes aren’t anything new on smartphones, as we’ve previously seen handheld twilight modes on phones before. But today’s night modes use smart image stacking for better results, while the top players also add machine learning and/or pixel-binning into the mix. Hopefully Motorola’s Night Vision mode isn’t merely a token effort.

Google Pixel 3 Night Sight vs HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro Night Mode
Features
HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro and Google Pixel 3 back

XDA notes that Night Vision seems to be distinct from the long exposure mode it previously discovered. It’s unclear how the two will differ, but some phones offer a mode for creating light trails and silky water effects using long exposures. So it seems possible that Motorola could offer a similar feature with its own long exposure mode.

The outlet has also discovered references to portrait relighting effects, giving Motorola users a few extra effects for portrait mode shots. This sounds similar to Apple’s portrait lighting feature, which has since been (poorly) aped by other brands. Motorola’s effects are said to include Color Pop, Sunshine, Studio, Noir, Side, and Stage effects.

We’re glad to see Motorola continue to flesh out its camera app nonetheless, having delivered features like a spot color mode, cinemagraphs, and portrait cutouts (swapping out the background in a portrait shot) in the last year.

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