Rita El Khoury/Android Authority
I’ve been wanting a button ever since the Pixel 7 series was announced in 2022 google camera app Must have: 10x zoom. This was the first time a Pixel phone had a 5x telephoto lens powerful enough to crop a smaller 10x shot without losing quality and clarity. This simply meant that Google, which was marketing this longer zoom range, would make it more accessible in the camera app as well, but that didn’t happen.
Pixel 8 series and then pixel 9 series Followed up, and, as much as I hate to admit it, the 10x zoom is still nowhere to be seen in the Google Camera app. I thought I was over it by now and accepted this oversight as another “Google shrugs” moment. Still, as I wandered around Beauval Zoo last weekend, looking at lions, tigers and elephants, I kept lamenting the lack of this button.
I managed to take some amazing shots, but using the pinch gesture to zoom up to 10x was as annoying and blurry as ever. I had to take it in, take it out, and readjust until I got it right. I don’t want 9.9x, nor 10.1x; I want 10x because I’m sure that’s where Google is taking a 5x 48MP shot and cropping the 12MP image from its center. It does this for both photos and videos as well.
Pro Pixel phones have a very capable ‘optical-quality’ 10x zoom, but without a dedicated button, it may not exist.
Google calls this “optical-quality zoom” because there’s no (or very little) digital enhancements or super res tricks going on, so you don’t get any weird artifacts in the final image like you do when you zoom in at 3x using the prime. Punch 20x with a 1x lens or a 5x tele lens. However, without the quick 10x button, this optical-quality zoom may not exist. Dialing in the exact 10x zoom level is a multi-second process, not a quick tap, and few people will know they can go that far without losing quality.
Rita El Khoury/Android Authority
This is especially more frustrating if you’re using the 10x to capture photos and videos over the course of several hours, such as at a concert, at the zoo, while watching a sports game from the stands, or while traveling. Every time I closed and reopened the camera app during my zoo visit, I had to manually dial in the 10x zoom level; Eventually it became tiring.
What bothers me is that Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and many others android camera phone This has already been fixed. They just added a 10x zoom button, and there you go! Tap, snap, done. You don’t need to keep adjusting pinch gestures or the zoom slider to get to that perfect 10x sweet spot. Whenever I carry my Galaxy S24 Ultra, I find myself using the 10x zoom more because it’s so easy to trigger.
Rita El Khoury/Android Authority
If you’re not a tech user, you look at the zoom levels on the S24 Ultra (and other similar phones that have this button implemented) and think, “Hey, let me try that!” If you do this, you will get a good photo. By contrast, with the Pixel, non-techies can zoom up to 13x, 17x, or 22x, get a half-good, half-bad shot, and won’t be inclined to do it again. They may think that their Pixel’s zoom is not that good after 5x and they may never know that there is a perfectly fine 10x level that they can use when they want to get closer to their subject.
Pixel owners may mistakenly think their phone’s best quality zoom is at 5x and never realize they can go up to 10x while still maintaining a quality shot.
Adding a button to the camera app shouldn’t be that difficult, but after three years, I’m starting to lose hope. Well, at least we know someone at Google is listening, though, because they just Brought back glow and shadow sliders That was taken away from us with the Pixel 8 series. So, maybe the same developer is reading it and taking notes. I can only hope.
