MIUI 12 Camera App Features Previewed: Magic Clone, Custom Colours, and More

Xiaomi has officially launched MIUI 12, the next big update of its Android-based operating system. The official rollout begins next month, but Xiaomi has already detailed some of the big new features that we should expect from it and all the phones that will be eligible for this update. Today, we get a sneak peek at Xiaomi's revamped camera app in MIUI 12. Designed with simplification in mind, the new app will let you rearrange shooting modes, and introduces new sounds and colours. New features such as Magic Clone and Magic Kaleidoscope have also been added.

The official preview video was shared by a product director of Xiaomi Camera, going by the handle of Queena_Xiaomi on Weibo, as reported by Gizmochina. The executive shared a one minute video that shows some of the new features in the upcoming app. The core theme of the new app seems to be ‘simplification.' The new app looks familiar to the existing camera app on Xiaomi phones, but with a new colour scheme and cleaner fonts.

A quick swipe down from the top, lets you quickly toggle the aspect ratio, set a timer, add a framing grid to the viewfinder, and so on. We're then quickly introduced to a new feature called Magic Clone, possibly for multiplicity photography although how this would actually work is still unclear. Next, we learn about something called Magic Kaleidoscope that would probably let your create kaleidoscope effects from photos you take. These features seem to be new shooting modes that should be available on any phone that supports this version of the camera app.

We then jump to a shot that shows the lens configuration for a periscope-style camera lens system in a smartphone, quickly followed by a zoomed in shot of an animated lighthouse, with 50x written in bold letters. This could hint at some new AI algorithms built into the new app, to achieve better quality hybrid zoom in phones with large sensors or with periscope-style cameras. The new app also seems to introduce new camera controls, as you'll be able to use the same shutter button to either take a still or hold the shutter button to begin recording.

Finally, Xiaomi has added the ability to rearrange the shooting modes within the app. This means, you can have your frequently used shooting modes front and centre, instead of having to swipe around a lot. There's a quick slide about the ability to change colours of the menus in the camera app, which is a nice touch. You'll also be able to customise the shutter sound, for when you take a photo.

As we mentioned earlier, Xiaomi recently introduced MIUI 12, which is due for a June rollout. Here's a full list of all the devices that are scheduled to receive the update.

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