Tech Reviews & Gadgets

If Google hides the Pixel’s 10x zoom feature, it’s not serious

Rita El Khoury / Android Authority

Ever since the Pixel 7 series launched in 2022, there’s one button I’ve been wishing the Google Camera app had: 10x zoom. This is the first time a Pixel phone has a 5x telephoto lens powerful enough to crop out smaller 10x photos without losing quality and clarity. It would make sense that Google would market this longer zoom range by also making it easier to use with the camera app, but it doesn’t.

The Pixel 8 series and Pixel 9 series follow, and as much as I hate to admit it, 10x zoom is still not visible in the Google Camera app. I thought I was over it now and accepted this oversight as another “Google Shrugged” moment. Still, as I walked around Beauval Zoo last weekend, zooming in on the lions, tigers and elephants, I lamented the lack of this button over and over again.

I managed to capture some great photos, but using the pinch gesture to zoom to 10x was as annoying and imprecise as ever. I had to pinch, pinch, readjust until I found the right spot. I don’t want 9.9x, and I don’t want 10.1x; I want 10x because I’m sure Google is taking a 5x 48MP shot and cropping the 12MP image from its center. It does this for photos and videos, too.

The Pro Pixel phones have a very capable “optical quality” 10x zoom, but it might not exist without a dedicated button.

Google calls it “Optical Quality Zoom” because no (or very little) digital enhancement or super-resolution tricks happen, so you won’t see any weird artifacts in the final image like you would with the main image for 3 Like when magnified. However, this optical quality zoom might not exist without the fast 10x button. Dial-in to the precise 10x zoom level is a multi-second process rather than a quick click, and few people know they can go this far without losing quality.

Google Pixel 9 Pro 10x zoom 2

Rita El Khoury / Android Authority

This is especially frustrating if you’re using the 10x to take photos and videos over multiple hours, such as at a concert, the zoo, watching a sports game in the stands, or traveling. Every time I closed and reopened the camera app during a visit to the zoo, I had to manually dial in the 10x zoom level; it got boring in the end.

Much to my annoyance, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and several other Android camera phones have already fixed this issue. They just added a 10x zoom button and that’s it! Knock, snap, done. You don’t need to constantly adjust pinch gestures or zoom sliders to achieve the exact 10x sweet spot. Whenever I carry the Galaxy S24 Ultra, I use the 10x zoom more often because it’s so easy to trigger.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra camera 10x zoom

Rita El Khoury / Android Authority

If you’re not a technical user, you’ll see these zoom levels on the S24 Ultra (and other similar phones that have implemented this button) and think, “Hey, let me try this!” If you do, you’ll get A beautiful photo. With the Pixel, by comparison, a non-technical person might zoom in to 13x, 17x, or 22x, get a half-good, half-bad photo, and be reluctant to do it again. They probably thought the Pixel’s zoom wasn’t that good after 5x, and never knew there was a perfect 10x zoom level available when they wanted to get closer to their subject.

Pixel users may mistakenly believe that their phone’s best zoom quality is 5x, but never knew they could go as high as 10x while maintaining shot quality.

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, because they just brought back the brightness and shade sliders that the Pixel 8 series took away from us. So maybe the same developer is reading this and taking notes. I can only hope.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button
×

Adblock Detected

*We Appreciate Your Visit!*

To enjoy all the features and content on our website, please consider disabling your ad blocker. Our site relies on ads to provide you with quality content and a seamless experience. Thank you for your understanding!