Every time you open the phone photo album, you can find the feeling of entering the "time machine", photos and videos record the bits and pieces that have happened for us.
There is the joy of achieving a goal and harvesting surprises, there is also the feeling of getting together to spend a good time together, and there is also the loneliness when you are unwilling and disappointed... Of course, there are many ordinary, but as long as you think back, you will think of a thousand pieces of daily life. Mobile phones and images are already an important part of many people's lives, and they are also key props for capturing and storing moments.
Following the long river of time refracted by the image, you can more and more perceive the change in the quality of photos and videos, and in just a few years, the mobile phone's image capabilities have changed dramatically. Even if you and I are not professional photographers and have no understanding of photography knowledge, we can take good photos and videos with our mobile phones. Recording beautiful moments is already a very simple thing.
Let's take a look at what has changed in mobile phone imaging and what wonderful video experiences today's mobile phones can provide.
Mobile phone image progress, from stack to pile calculation
The initial image capability upgrade of the mobile phone is to learn directly from professional cameras and cameras, and make a fuss about sensor size and lens specifications, as long as the hardware is "luxurious" enough to have a good photo.
The most classic case is Nokia in its heyday, the sensor area and lens complexity have increased year by year, and even turned the ZEISS cooperation into one of the hallmarks of top mobile phone images. On the craziest Nokia 808 and Nokia 1020, the imaging hardware even accounts for a large proportion of the whole machine.
Coming to the new era of iPhone and Android popularity, after once giving way to a larger screen and battery, imaging hardware has become the focus of manufacturers to enhance the value of products, this time it is more "simple and rude": the use of specific models of sensors, then it means that the mobile phone has good imaging capabilities.
Powerful imaging hardware will occupy more body space, but modern smartphones will always have limited space to free up, and new paths must be opened up to make mobile phone images more improved under the limited volume. The industry eventually set its sights on computational photography, processed with the same rapidly improving phone performance to output higher-quality photos and videos.
Computational photography is first used to shoot HDR content, combining multiple photos taken at the same time with different exposures to obtain HDR photos with greatly improved dynamic range and clearly seeing more details. Due to the intuitive principle and wide hardware adaptability, HDR photography quickly became the standard new capability of new mid-to-high-end mobile phones at that time.
Since then, the super night scene function launched by various manufacturers has tapped the potential of multiple composites: taking more photos at the same time, and then completing multiple processes such as photo screening, signal classification, noise reduction processing, color management, and photo synthesis lamps. Finally, in just a few seconds, only the mobile phone can take a bright enough and real enough night photograph, and the calculation of photographic value is fully reflected.
Both shot in low-light environments
Obviously, today's mobile phones need to do a good job of imaging, not only the hardware parts such as sensors and lenses are strong enough, but also the thinking and results in computational photography. With the comprehensive ability of software and hardware that can "calculate well" photos and videos, it is a mobile phone that can shoot good works.
In 2022, mobile phones, image experiences evolve again
After several years of rapid development, the high-end smartphones in 2022 have made more progress in image experience and capabilities, taking less time to complete the shooting, but the photos and videos taken look better.
1, Xiaomi 12 series "fast, more stable"
Xiaomi Mi 12 series of large and small two mobile phones, both of which have achieved "faster and more stable" when taking photos and videos, even in most scenes, only need to wait 1 second to take high-quality night photos.
The Xiaomi Mi 12 series has also explored more potential of snapdragon 8, such as the integration of a variety of focus-chasing functions and AI capabilities, so as to track the "all-things focusing" of more shooting objects such as the human body in real time, and shoot high-speed moving pictures without being afraid of blurring and not being clear.
2. iQOO 9 Pro pure night view
The iQOO 9 Pro maintains its lead with its outsole and micro-gimbal, while also focusing on computational photography.
The combination of Samsung GN5+ UAR ultra-low reflection coating + self-developed AI anti-glare algorithm + RAW HDR algorithm is realized, and users can easily obtain pure and beautiful night photos.
3. Honor Magic4 to The Ultimate Edition explores the boundaries of images
In the recently released flagship Honor Magic4 to the best version, not only has the 8P lens main camera and other focal length complete high-quality multi-camera hardware, but also entered the industry has not been involved in the field.
The first 10bit 4K 60-frame Log video shooting, as well as high-definition video recording with the blessing of computational photography and the capture of high-definition photos at the same time.
4, OPPO Find X5 Pro found more details
Through the self-developed image dedicated NPU Mariana X and Snapdragon 8 to cooperate with each other, OPPO Find X5 Pro has achieved the feat of "one frame of image, using two chips", and the chips can play their respective strengths and work together.
In simple terms, this phone brings "chip-level" 4K ultra-clear night/HDR video recording capabilities, and low-light environment recording for more lighting and detail.
5. Realme GT2 Pro has a variety of creative shooting
Realme GT2 Pro is based on computational photography and offers users a lot of fun ways to play. There are 40x microscopic shots with the ability to observe the microscopic world, as well as 3D photos that add a sense of field and dynamics to the photos. Of course, the clear and clean night scene imaging, as well as the night scene video, etc. have not been pulled down.
A good photo shoot by a mobile phone is inseparable from Snapdragon imaging technology
Perhaps you have found that the above-mentioned mobile phones are invariably equipped with the Snapdragon 8 mobile platform, coupled with the great improvement in computational photography capabilities brought about by Snapdragon Sight Snapdragon imaging technology, so that mobile phone manufacturers have gained more room to play on the product side. Taking good photos becomes easier, and the power of high-quality imaging hardware is more fully unleashed.
Nowadays, computational photography is still a new power point for mobile phone images, and more computing power is integrated into more scene improvement. Achieve full use of the performance of high-quality image modules and explore unthinked paths. A major prerequisite for computational photography is that the platform must have strong computing power support, which can play more potential of software and algorithms.
Therefore, fast and good computational photography requires the mobile phone to be able to efficiently call resources from the bottom layer, and the Snapdragon mobile platform that affects all aspects of the mobile phone has a lot of accumulation in computational photography technology. The key to the snapdragon imaging technology being able to stay ahead is that the Qualcomm Spectra ISP on the Snapdragon mobile platform in previous generations has strong performance and excellent energy efficiency, which can promote continuous innovation in imaging technology.
1. Isp hash rate new height, experience in-depth mobile phone image in all corners
The Snapdragon 8 mobile platform's Qualcomm Spectra ISP upgrade supports up to 18-bit image shooting, achieves up to 32 billion pixels per second processing power while continuing the three-ISP architecture, and has the ability to push mobile phone images to new heights. In simple terms, the process of taking photos with rich details, bright pictures and rich colors with your mobile phone is faster and more convenient.
Being able to process more data also means being able to present more content.
At the same time, the details of mobile phone video recording, light and shade are closer to the camera, and there are real experience improvements such as halving the power consumption of HDR10+ video shooting, capturing high-definition photos at any time, and smooth multi-camera switching.
Snapdragon 8 actually has a "hidden" fourth ISP, which does not participate in ordinary imaging work, but will achieve biometric recognition, two-dimensional code recognition, notification protection and other capabilities at a lower power consumption, presenting the value of mobile phone imagery from another angle.
2. Image systematic engineering, Snapdragon 8 all-round response
As we all know, mobile phone imaging is a complex systematic project, and it is not enough to have the advantages of computing performance, but also needs to allocate resources and processes reasonably to achieve a balance between energy efficiency and shooting experience. The ISP of Snapdragon 8 is just a generalist who can meet all directions, and the hardware-level processing capabilities of Snapdragon images allow mobile phone images to have standard performance in non-standard scenes.
A clear case is the improvement of the dynamic capture ability brought by Snapdragon 8 to mobile phones, which is behind the process of acquiring, processing and outputting more pictures. Whereas in the past it used to take more time to implement, as well as heat generation and power consumption, it is now possible to achieve all of this within an acceptable range of power consumption. Spending less and increasing revenue is one of the values of ISP progress.
In addition, Snapdragon 8 has also brought a full range of improvements to mobile phone images, including but not limited to a significant increase in daily imaging efficiency, easy real-time bokehing of videos, natural and low latency of portrait processing, ultra-wide-angle distortion correction and chromatic aberration correction, and high-quality panoramic photos can be taken without alignment and long waiting... The little progress you can perceive in mobile phone shooting comes from this.
3. Powerful computing power, excellent energy efficiency, and support AI image performance
AI is changing the way mobile phones operate from multiple angles, mobile phone images are naturally no exception, and Snapdragon 8 has gone further in the direction of AI's participation in computational photography. The most easily noticeable is the change of night photography in the ultra-dark environment, the once long "circle" has become a few seconds to hold the phone and wait for a second or two, and the photos taken are not only brighter, but also have good colors and details.
Snapdragon 8 has prepared many hardware-level AI image optimizations, which can detect 300 facial feature points that are not limited to the five facial features, feel more character emotions and dynamics, and track and complete focus tracking in the case of characters being obscured or turned. The already powerful new generation of Spectra ISP and the 7th generation of Qualcomm AI engine of Snapdragon 8 also leave enough space for mobile phone manufacturers to play freely.
There is also a change worth talking about, starting from the Snapdragon 8 generation, Qualcomm and Sony will establish a joint imaging laboratory, and Spectra ISPs can have more cooperation with the most popular Sony sensors at present. We may see isps and sensors working together more deeply, function calls between each other become more closely connected than in the past, and 1+1>2 is practiced again.
epilogue
Looking back at Android mobile phones with strong images, the most gameplay and the greatest improvement in recent years, it will be found that these products are driven by Qualcomm Snapdragon, and the successive Snapdragon mobile platforms have provided support for the improvement of mobile phone photography and video, and have left strong traces on the development of mobile phone images.
Snapdragon 855 built-in the world's first CV-ISP, which can carry out depth sensing and 60 frames of 4K HDR video shooting; The dual-core ISP of the Snapdragon 865 supports processing 2 billion pixels per second and can shoot 960 frames of slow motion without limiting time; the three ISPs of the Snapdragon 888 have stronger and most camera capabilities, and can also call on AI to fully participate in the image processing process...
Snapdragon 8, the latest flagship Snapdragon mobile platform with a more powerful Spectra ISP, is now featured in a number of products with image flash points, and has received many positive reviews for the recording experience. The answer to the question of how to choose a mobile phone that can shoot high-quality images in 2022 must be out of the question.