Google's Nexus 5 and 6 smartphones have a new Camera app feature called HDR+. This mode uses fancy computational photography tricks to help you capture better photos in situations with uneven lighting or low amounts of light.
In a post published to the Google Research blog this past week, researchers behind the new feature offer a peek at the inner workings.
By this point, the crippling blow dealt to compact cameras by the rise of smartphones is old news, but camera manufacturers are now mounting counterattacks. They've certainly suffered for long enough. Sales for compact cameras fell by 30% in 2011 alone, and kept on falling. They're at 102 million units for this year, compared to 144 million units just three years ago.
According to a recent tip received by Phone Arena, Nikon may be getting more serious about the smartphone game. The tip references Google's upcoming Nexus 5 which, according to the site's source, will feature a Nikon branded "triple camera sensor" as its key selling point.
The photograph seen here was shot using a tablet computer -- one that doesn't officially exist yet. Google engineering SVP Vic Gundotra posted the image to Google+ at 4:57 this morning with the caption, "Early morning walk on the beach." A quick peek at the EXIF data reveals that it was captured with the "Google Nexus 10," a tablet that'll reportedly be unveiled at a press event next Monday.