Galaxy S11/S20 camera features to include Pro mode video recording

The Galaxy S11/Galaxy S20 may bring back a camera feature to Samsung devices that went missing the first One UI update and resulted in plenty of understandable backlash from users. The folks over at XDA Developers dug into the stable Android 10 firmware released for the Galaxy Note 9 and found references to a couple of features that are likely to be introduced with Samsung’s next flagship, and one of those features is the ability to record videos using the camera’s Pro mode.

Pro mode video recording is finally coming back

As mentioned above, Samsung removed Pro mode video recording with the Android Pie/initial One UI update for its devices. The company looks set to reintroduce it with the Galaxy S11/S20, although it remains to be seen if Samsung will also bring Pro mode video recording to existing smartphones. At least the Galaxy S10 and Galaxy Note 10 should get it, as Samsung tends to bring new camera features from newer flagship to older ones (for example, the Galaxy S10’s dedicated Night shooting mode came to the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy Note 9).

In an earlier Android 10 firmware, XDA Developers had found references to a couple of other new camera features that could be announced with the Galaxy S11/S20, such as Director’s View, and they have now been able to glean more information from the Note 9’s Android 10 firmware. Director’s View, for example, will allow you to lock focus on a subject while recording a video and maintain focus on that subject even when switching between the regular, telephoto, and ultra-wide lenses.

The Galaxy S11/S20 could also bring new Live Focus bokeh effects, which is to be expected as Samsung introduces those with every flagship Galaxy S or Note device. There will be a mode called Single Take Photo, which will seemingly take pictures and videos automatically when it detects optimal moments, like someone smiling or kissing. This is similar to the Photobooth model found on Google’s Pixel phones. Last but not least, Samsung’s upcoming flagship could record 8K videos as well.