Lenovo-owned Motorola has released a new update to its camera app through the Google Play Store that should make it much more intuitive to use. Of course, it goes without saying that this is the stock camera app used on Moto-branded handsets. So it’s not available to anybody who isn’t using one of those. With that said, Motorola is referring to the changes in this update as the “New 2018 Camera User Interface,” which gives quite a lot of insight about where its focus was for this refresh.
Bearing that in mind, the biggest change is likely that the once-prominent overflow menu for switching shooting modes is gone. Instead, there are now three icons hovering just over the shutter button which can be swiped between much more easily than tapping buttons at the screen’s edges. A camera and video camera icon point users to the standard shooting mode for either of those camera tools. Meanwhile, a multi-dot square icon indicates secondary shooting modes and brings up a menu for selecting from among those for both photos and videos, with each separated in the list into their own respective categories. In that same menu, there is now a settings button at the top right-hand side of the screen which opens up to reveal deeper camera adjustments. Those have a sleek new grey and orange theme, as well as some tweaks to spacing, but the overall options available there have stayed the same. Finally, Motorola’s Manual Mode has received a brand new icon in the top navigation bar alongside the previously available icons. Tapping it reveals a series of adjustments that can be made along the edge of the screen. Those are represented by icons with a transparent background but the available options haven’t changed here either.
Beyond those additions and tweaks, dual-camera smartphones from Motorola will see an additional option for switching lenses and the application itself has a new, arguably more modern-looking icon. There are also bug fixes and other similar unspecified patches included with the update. Since this is a rolling update, it shouldn’t be too surprising if it hasn’t shown up on every Moto-branded smartphone just yet. It isn’t clear whether or not this will end up hitting every such handset either, as there’s no list of devices that this update is slated to land on. In the meantime, those feeling a bit less-than-patient can head over to the Google Play button below to see if the update is ready to be downloaded to their Motorola-made Android smartphone of choice right now.
