Code discovered in the latest Android Pie build for Samsung’s Galaxy Note 9 suggests the company is working on a new night photography mode called Bright Night, reports XDA-Developers.
The code says that it will allow you to “take bright pictures even in very dark conditions,” which is similar to the functionality we’ve seen from Google’s Night Sight mode and Huawei’s Night Mode.
Given how Samsung likes to debut new photography features with each flagship handset, XDA speculates that the company might be about to do the same with Bright Night and the upcoming Galaxy S10, which is expected to be announced at the end of February 2019.
Samsung released new scene optimizer technology with the Note 9 in August, following the addition of super slow-mo to the S9.
After their initial releases, both technologies were later brought to older handsets, which explains how this code has cropped up in a Note 9 build when it’s expected to be announced alongside the S10.
Text in the code suggests the mode will work in a similar way to Night Sight, taking multiple shots and using software to combine them together. The method has already produced excellent results for the Pixel 3.
When we compared the S9 with the Pixel 2 XL earlier this year, the S9’s wider aperture appeared to give it the edge in terms of low-light detail, but the Pixel 2’s software processing delivered more contrast and dynamic range.
Depending on how well it’s implemented, Bright Night could help Samsung close this software quality gap with the competition.
The Galaxy S10 is already shaping up to be a much more fundamental revision for Samsung after the iterative changes we saw with the S9.
Various reports about the phone have claimed that it will feature an in-display fingerprint sensor, up to six cameras, and a hole-punch Infinity O display, and now it seems its camera is also in line for an upgrade.
