If you’re like me, video calls are a crucial part of modern life. I trust them to be able to contact colleagues at work remotely, but also to keep in touch with people in my personal life.
However, there is one thing I often struggle with: lighting. Making sure my face is well lit without a distracting background often proves to be a real challenge, especially at home.
This is especially a problem with underwhelming laptop webcams, but it also often affects selfie cameras on phones. So when I heard about Qualcomm’s new AI Relighting feature, I was excited.
Available on the company’s new Snapdragon 8 Elite mobile chip, it uses artificial intelligence to add a virtual, customizable light source so you stay perfectly visible.
And after trying it out at Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Summit in Maui, it’s every bit as good as I hoped.
Anyron Copeman / Foundry
The first thing I noticed was how realistic it looked. The subtle lighting effect it applies could easily convince the other people in the conversation that it came from a real source. The ability to move the virtual light source anywhere within the frame helps enormously.
There are also many more customization options. Qualcomm allows you to adjust the intensity and color temperature and choose from six different colors. Classic white and yellow tones are included, but you can make yourself look redder or bluer if you wish.
It may not sound like a groundbreaking feature, but it’s an effective use of AI that would dramatically improve my video calling experience. That’s why I’m so eager to see it appear on the next generation of Android phones.
As a feature of the new Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, many upcoming Android flagships will have the option to add AI Relighting to their phones. It’s up to each manufacturer to decide, but I hope at least some of them decide to adopt it.
You may also be interested in the other Snapdragon 8 Elite features I’m excited to try out.
