Google's Pixel 9 Phones Have a Wild New AR Camera Feature

As I raised one of Google's new Pixel 9 phones to snap a group photo, I saw an image of myself in augmented reality located in the same spot I was standing in just a second ago. This digital version of me was positioned right next to the person I was taking a photo of, as if we were standing alongside one another in real life. 

This is what it's like to use Google's new Add Me feature for the Pixel 9 series. The goal behind the tool is to make it possible to capture a group photo even when there's no one nearby to take the photo for you. It's another attempt by Google to make its Pixel phones stand out with clever software features, which has been its approach for much of the Pixel line's existence. 

Read more: Pixel 9 Pro XL Review: Google Goes All In on AI, for Better or Worse

Add Me, which is available only in the camera app on the Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL and Pixel 9 Pro Fold, can be a bit difficult to grasp until you see it in action. You start by taking a group photo the way you normally would -- having a member of your group snap the photo. But that's where the similarities end. The photographer then hands the phone off to someone else in the photo and stands where the original picture was being taken. 

The Pixel 9 uses augmented reality, a technology that positions graphics on your phone's screen over your surroundings by using the device's camera and sensors, to overlay digital versions of the people in the original photo over the current scene. This helps the second photographer position the first photographer in a way that looks natural. Google then combines the images to create one picture with everyone in it, including both the first and second photographers. 

I must admit, it seems like a lot of trouble to go through for a group photo. In most cases, it's probably easier and less awkward just to have someone else take the picture for your group if possible. However, I've only tried this feature in Google's demo area, so I'll need to use it in real-world, everyday scenarios to truly know whether it's helpful.

But it's not unusual for Google to come up with quirky new photography features for its new Pixel phones. Last year, for example, the company introduced Best Take, which combines multiple group photos taken in a row to create a photo in which everyone is smiling. As my colleague Sareena Dayaram wrote last year after Best Take and Magic Editor were announced, features like these can raise questions about the authenticity of photos taken with our smartphones.

Regardless, it's interesting to see augmented reality applied to a smartphone in this way. Many well-known AR phone apps, aside from Snapchat, typically fall into the gaming or utility categories, like Pokémon Go or the digital tape measure app AR Ruler.

I don't think a feature like Add Me is going to be significant enough to influence your decision about buying the Pixel 9. But it at least feels like a fresh idea, which is no easy task when it's become increasingly difficult to make new smartphones feel different from each other.

Watch this: Google Pixel 9 Review: More AI, a New Look and a Higher Price

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