Original OnePlus 6 To Get New 'Nightscape' Feature This Week

OnePlus has now officially launched the followup to its OnePlus 6 with its new 6T variant and one of the most exciting new camera enhancement features from that device, called Nightscape, will be making its way to the original OnePlus 6. In short, Nightscape is a refined shooting mode for low-light situations that utilizes 'multi-frame stabilization', wider dynamic range, and faster capture to reduce overall noise and distortion, better detail, and more accurate color retention. The end result should be images that are quicker to take in relatively poor lighting while also resulting in improved quality on the output side of things. The feature will begin to roll out to the devices at some point later this week, according to the company.

Background: The decision to bring a new feature from the latest addition to the OnePlus family of devices isn't too surprising since both handsets actually feature the same camera hardware. That means that the front shooter on the new OnePlus 6T houses a 20-megapixel sensor, while the rear dual-camera array is a 16-megapixel wide-angle lens snapper backed by a 20-megapixel module with an aperture of up to f/1.7. The rear-facing camera also supports slow-motion capture at up to 480fps with both optical image stabilization and electronic image stabilization intact. Bearing that in mind, there are at least a few improvements that have been made to the underlying software that may or may not make their way to the original OnePlus 6 via an update. The company indicated during the camera portion of the keynote speed that the 6T features better intelligent scene recognition and more aggressive active noise elimination overall. What's more, it includes an even more accurate portrait mode to ensure that bokeh and blur are as close to exactly where they're supposed to be as is possible with the hardware.

However, OnePlus has not, as of this writing, offered too much by way of details with regard to what exactly the new camera features are or how they work. Setting that aside, beyond the fact that the cameras are effectively the same, there don't appear to be very many bigger updates to the design of the new OnePlus 6T. That's not unexpected since the 'T' variant is more of a bigger brother than a predecessor for OnePlus handsets but there are at least a few improvements. For starters, a new 6.41-inch AMOLED FHD+ panel is part of the built. That not only bumps the overall pixel count from 2280 x 1080 to 2340 x 1080 and the ratio up to 19.5:9. It's also coated in the latest Corning Gorilla Glass 6 for more durability. Simultaneously, the 3.5mm headphone jack has been removed and the battery has been boosted by 400mAh to a total capacity of 3,700mAh. That, in addition to a Snapdragon 845 SoC and other core components, will drive an Android 9 Pie-based flavor of OxygenOS out of the box.

Impact: The addition of the new camera software should make it quite a bit easier for some who already own a OnePlus 6 to make the choice not to upgrade their handset just yet. However, it's much less clear whether or not even older handsets such as the OnePlus 5 or OnePlus 5T will ever see the software. Despite the emphasis placed by OnePlus on the software underneath the new feature, there are undoubtedly some aspects that are more dependent on the hardware itself. If that's the case, it will likely cause at least a measure of protest among long-time fans of the brand. Coupled with other improvements made to the series between the newest generation and the OnePlus 5T, it could also serve as an additional catalyst to drive further sales.

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