Galaxy S7 has a Live Photos-like feature, Samsung just didn't talk about it

Before the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge were announced, there were rumors that the devices would come with a feature similar to Apple's Live Photos feature, which in turn was inspired by HTC's Zoe functionality. Samsung didn't say anything about such a feature at the Unpacked event, but the new flagships do have an option to take “moving pictures”. It's called Motion photo and it's tucked away in the camera app's settings.

For those that aren't aware of what features like Motion Photo or Live Photos do, here's a short explanation. When you capture an image with the phone's camera, the camera app takes a few additional photos in the background. You won't see these photos in the gallery, but if you press on that image that does show in the gallery, you will be treated to a short video of the images taken before the actual photo was captured. It's more like a GIF than a proper video; Apple's Live Photos feature captures extra images both before and after the photo you take, but Samsung's version only does the former.

Overall, Motion photo is not something most will use so it isn't surprising to see Samsung skipping a mention when it unveiled the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge. What do you think? Do you think Motion photo is a nice feature to have, or do you think it's something you will never/rarely use?

Abhijeet Mishra - Editor-in-Chief

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First Samsung device: SGH-D500

Abhijeet's writing career started with guides for custom firmware for Samsung devices (including the original Galaxy S), and he moved to SamMobile in mid-2013 and worked up the ranks to Editor-in-chief. In addition to phones and mobile devices, his interests include gaming on both PC and console, PC hardware, and spending countless hours on YouTube watching videos on tech, movies, games, politics, and internet dramas.

Phone Galaxy S7 Galaxy S7 edge Live Photos Motion Photo