Android 16 Beta 2 Brings New Camera Tricks For Pro Photographers
With the second beta of Android 16 (codenamed Baklava) now available—plus two further public betas on the development timeline—Google's latest OS is on course for final release in May, just in time for Google I/O. The latest beta brings a few changes including a big one centered around the camera app, granular health data control (giving apps specific access to health metrics), and dynamic A/V output adjustment for video streaming apps.
Camera app now has manual controls to manage auto-exposure, color temperature and tint, plus HEIC (High Efficiency Image Container) image format for Ultra HDR images. Perhaps the biggest Camera app ask since, like, forever, is for hybrid auto-exposure modes similar to what you'd find on digital cameras. Currently, the app only allows two choices of exposure: auto or full manual. The new hybrid system gives users control over exposure time and ISO, while the app handles auto exposure.
The new app also expands on the current white balance presets (e.g. cloudy, incandescent, twilight) by bringing exact controls over color temperature and tint. With these added imaging controls, photographers can take advantage of additional support for the HEIC file format when capturing Ultra HDR images. Compared to JPG, HEIC can compress more information while taking less space.
As already mentioned, Android 16 will likely be announced at the next Google I/O conference on May 20-21 in Mountain View, California. Like the previous I/O, there will probably be further focus on AI, although it's up the air if we'll see any new consumer devices—perhaps the Pixel 9a.
Android 16 won't be the only OS being spotlighted in some capacity in May; the next Wear OS 6 is expected to drop as well. The smartwatch software is believed to bring new features to devices running the OS (like the Pixel Watch and Samsung Galaxy Watch), such as Circle to Search, Gemini, etc.
