The camera doesn’t lie. Or does it? For years we’ve been talking about ‘photoshopping’ models to make them look thin or remove their blemishes, but it’s now easier than ever before to do it with your own smartphone.
For the last couple of weeks I’ve been playing with the latest Huawei P10. Although I’ve got massive reservations about the latest Android 7 platform after being so used to Apple iOS, I must admit that this phone is quite impressive – at least as far as the camera is concerned (I’m less impressed with the battery life but I’ll come back to that another time).
Like the iPhone 7, it’s got a dual lens camera system on the back which is great for creating arty pictures with a beautiful depth of field. One is monochrome (20 megapixels), the other colour (12 megapixels). What’s more both lenses are produced by Leica which is renowned for its high quality camera gear.
Another useful feature is the portrait mode which Huawei claims can track 190 points on a face. Handy if you want to airbrush a few of your imperfections in a few seconds!
Using the beautification tool, you can enlarge your eyes, whiten your teeth, even narrow your face. In addition you can improve your complexion and top up your tan at the same time.
Above you can see my before (left) and after (right) selfies. The effects are quite subtle and the picture is a little soft, but I especially like the teeth whitening feature which makes me look a bit more healthy. The bronzing feature works well too.
OK it hasn’t exactly turned me into Brad Pitt, but you can see some subtle improvements. Who knows with a bit more time in the editing suite, I may even look presentable!
And below here’s a shot of my little puppy Poppy without beautification mode switched on – because she doesn’t need it. I do think this camera is very, very good for a smartphone.
Chris Price 