Google's Pixel Camera Will Support External Microphones Starting This Week
One of the highlights of Google's Pixel family of handsets is camera performance. If you have not done so already, check out some photos we recently took with the Pixel 3 as a preview to the full review. We like what we see so far, though like previous Pixel devices, the default camera app does not support external microphones. That's going to change very soon.
The lack of support for external microphones by the default camera app is a notable omission, in part because there are third-party apps that do support them. This prompted a long running thread on Google's Pixel community forums dating back to October 2016. Now two years later, a member from Google's Pixel engineering team has confirmed that support is coming.
"Hi, folks—Isaac here from the Pixel Camera engineering team. I have been keeping an eye on this thread since the beginning and have good news. At the same time as Pixel 3 launch (October 18th), we will introduce support for Android-compatible plugged-in external microphones in the default camera app for all Pixels. I hope you all enjoy the update," Isaac said.
It's been a long wait, but in keeping with the 'better late than never' mantra, the news was well received by the Pixel community.
"That's great news. Very overdue, but great nonetheless," one user wrote. "Amazon news. Thanks to the Pixel team for implementing this!," another one stated.
We're not sure if this means all Pixel phones will gain the new feature, or if Google will roll it out specifically to its upcoming Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL handsets. It sounds like this is something past Pixel phones will get as well, but in lieu of a follow up post, we'll just have to wait and see.
The Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL have already been announced and will be available on October 18, as Isaac pointed out. Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845 processor will power the devices, along with 4GB of RAM. The phones will also feature 64GB or 128GB of storage. Pricing will start at $799.
