Low light photography will soon be easier than ever on the Google Pixel 3a

Google has tweaked its camera app, and now it’s easier than ever to use Night Sight on your Pixel 3 or Pixel 3a smartphone.

Following the update to Android Q, Night Sight will be available as an easy shortcut in the camera app on Pixel phones, rather than being hidden away in the menus. Already renowned for its low light photographic prowess, it’s good news that the mode will be more readily accessible, taking the place previously occupied by the Panorama mode.

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The Google Pixel 3a has one rear camera lens, a 12.2-megapixel with an f/1.8 aperture. While the camera hardware is exactly the same as that of the premium Pixel 3, the processing power is limited by a Snapdragon 670 compared to the flagship’s Snapdragon 845, and it does not feature the Pixel Visual Core chip.

However, in our review we praised the Pixel 3a for its low-light photography under Night Sight; colours are very strong, and there’s barely any noise. It’s performance beats out devices that cost twice as much, and the only catch is that images take a few seconds to generate when this mode is activated.

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This shortcut is far from the only change making its way to Android Q; the new operating system will also feature a Dark Theme option, full gesture navigation, Bubbles (for speedier app multi-tasking), and screen continuity optimisation intended especially for foldable smart devices (such as the Huawei Mate X or the Samsung Galaxy Fold).

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While the camera shortcut update will be rolled out to existing Pixel phones, as 9to5 Google reports, the next smartphone is not far from its highly-anticipated release. The Pixel 4 is expected to be the first device in the range to have two rear cameras, so we’re excited to see whether it can eclipse the impressive camera performance of its illustrious predecessors.