Your Google Pixel Watch is now a much better remote control for your phone’s camera
Google is updating the Camera app on the Pixel Watch, allowing users to instantly switch between photography and video modes on their paired Google Pixel Phone.
The company made no effort to let people know about the patch, as no formal announcement was ever made. Not even the official help page Google’s support website doesn’t mention anything. We only know this after it was discovered by 9To5Google. According to their report, users can access the new Modes section by first opening the Settings menu. If you tap the submenu you will see what is in it now. In total there are six separate states that can be activated at any time.
Night Vision allows you to take photos in low light. Portrait, as the name suggests, allows users to take photos in a vertical alignment. Photo is your basic mode for taking pictures. Video provides control over when to record footage. Slow Motion is for recording video in, well, slow motion. Time lapse, as Google explains itgives people a way to “capture changes that are happening (slowly),” such as the sunset.
Fairly simple stuff, but it does introduce a nice level of usability that the Pixel Watch didn’t have before. Previously, you had to open the Camera app on your phone if you wanted to switch between the different modes. The Pixel Watch could only be used to set a timer or switch camera feeds from the front lens to the rear and vice versa. Speaking of the timer, the patch now allows owners to increase the length of the timer from three seconds to ten.
Persistent questions
Since Google hasn’t made a proper announcement, we do have some questions; Is this update exclusive to Pixel phones? 9To5Google mentions that the same modes are present on their Pixel Fold, but they say nothing about other Android mobile devices. News site Android Police thinks you need a Pixel phone, but not quite sure.
We reached out to the tech giant and asked for clarification on the release: will the Pixel Watch 2 receive the same changes and whether the upgrade will be generally available?
It’s unclear if this is something all units will receive or if it’s something exclusive to a select few units. The latter is likely the case, as 9To5Google claims the changes were rolled out last December as part of the Pixel Camera 9.2 patch. The problem was that until recently no one knew about it. The launch was quite confusing, so we’ll update this story as soon as we hear back.
Until then, check out Ny Breaking’s guide to the best smartwatches for 2024.