1y ago

Google brings back Photo Sphere to Pixels, but there is a catch

www.androidpolice.com

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The catch:
After intermittently disappearing from all current Pixel phones, the option to take Photo Spheres is back on Pixels that previously supported the feature. This means that Google’s latest phones, the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro, are still left without the beloved functionality, but at least it’s back on the Pixel 7 series and older.
- when was it gone? I just used it a few weeks ago. Why do they do stuff like this? The feature is already developed and deployed. That means they invested developer resources to provide fewer features. I don't get it.
  
  A lot of Google's craziness comes from their internal promotion system incentives. Nobody gets promoted for maintaining the status quo
  
  They have been enabling and disabling it for years now. The nexus 5 had it, then it disappeared for a while, and then came back later. Its like they think it can be a selling point for their phones, but they dont even advertise it afaik. Perhaps.its just corporate alzheimers...
- What the fuck Google!?
I remember being really disappointed when this feature was cut. I loved using it as a way to feel like I was standing in places I had visited.
- agreed, I opened up some old photospheres of past apartments, places I visited during study abroad and it was kind of eerie how it teleported me back to the moment! much more than a picture or video would
There is a third party photo sphere app, https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.foxpoi.panorama, but it seems to be the only one available, and it's not FOSS.
They wanna play with AI for Pixels 8 and above, my guess. Online AI processing.

11 comments