Razer Phone Will Get New Camera Features, Improvements Through Software Updates

The Razer Phone has only been out for less than a week, and it has already received some praise for its gaming capabilities. However, the Razer Phone’s dual cameras have been less than stellar, which is why Razer will be releasing some software updates to improve their performance.

“The RAZER Phone utilizes an 8MP front facing camera and dual 12MP rear facing cameras with image fusion. While we focused on making sure that it is an amazing camera for the Razer Phone out of the gate, we are constantly testing, optimizing and making improvements to our camera software,” Razer co-founder and CEO Min-Liang Tan said on his Facebook post. “While the camera hardware and sensors are phenomenal, we are focused on improving the performance of the software - specifically the performance of the camera app in the near term.”

The Razer CEO said that the Razer Phone team will be focusing on improving the shutter speed of the dual cameras, while also updating the cameras’ low-light performance. Tan added that “many other optimizations” for the cameras’ software are also on the way. Without giving any specific timeframe, the Razer CEO said that these software updates will be released progressively over the next few weeks.

One of these updates was actually already released last Friday, when the Razer Phone was first launched. That particular update improved the stability of the camera app and added changes to the user interface to make it more accurate.

Tan also teased that the Razer Phone will have some new camera features in other future updates. One of the new features that he teased is the addition of a new “instazoom” button. The button will allow users to immediately jump to the optimal zoom of the secondary telephoto lens on the Razer Phone. This feature is very similar to the 2x button on the camera app of the Apple’s iPhone X, iPhone 7 Plus and 8 Plus. Tan said that the new “instazoom” feature was actually requested “by nearly all reviewers.”

The CEO also said that it’s “very likely” that they will add a 4x slo-motion video recording to the Razer Phone. Unfortunately, Tan didn’t specify when it will become available.

The Razer Phone will also be getting the Android Oreo update in early 2018. Alongside the Android update, Razer will be adding more camera features for the Razer Phone, including portrait mode and 60 frames-per-second video recording. Portrait mode will likely allow users to add artificial bokeh (blur) to captured images, which is a feature that’s already found on smartphones from Apple, Samsung and Google. Lastly, Tan also said that additional speed improvements to the Razer Phone camera will also be introduced alongside the Android Oreo update.

The Razer Phone was first announced at the beginning of November and went on sale on the 17th starting at $699. The Android smartphone was mostly praised for its 120Hz LCD display, which is exceptional for gaming. It was also praised for its incredibly loud dual front-facing stereo speakers and its large 4,000mAh battery.

However, the dual cameras on the the Razer Phone have been the only major problem that most reviewers have singled out. Digital Trends described the shooter on the phone as being “mediocre at best,” while Droid Life said that it was an “extremely lacking experience.” With software updates on the way, hopefully the opinions on the Razer Phone’s cameras will change.