I tested the Pixel 9’s excellent new underwater camera mode in the blue Haw
 

In the latest Pixel Drop (formerly known as Pixel Feature Drops) from October, Google launched a new underwater camera mode for the most recent phones in the Pixel 9 series. This feature uses software optimizations to enhance photos and videos captured underwater to make them look as good as possible.

To be clear, Pixels supported underwater enhancements as far back as the Pixel 7 series. Here’s an official blog post about how Googler José Ricardo Lima used a Pixel 7 Pro to capture some underwater shots in Maui, Hawaii, for example. The recent Pixel Drop, though, allows the underwater mode to work on the Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL, and Pixel 9 Pro Fold with any underwater case, not just specific cases Google has vetted. This makes the feature much more accessible to people, as you don’t need an expensive diver-quality case to see those optimizations (the one Lima used for that blog post costs many hundreds of dollars).




More...