Google is rolling out updates this month to its Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL users so that they can take better photos using Instagram, WhatsApp and Snapchat apps. Currently, the main camera app is the only application that can take excellent quality photos that had consumers around the world raving about it. The secret? Three words. Pixel Visual Core.

What is Pixel Visual Core?

The Pixel Visual Core is a “custom designed co-processor for Pixel 2.” It leverages on computational photography and machine learning, which are currently what the main camera app is tapping on to improve image quality.

Now, Google is ready to expand the use of the Pixel Visual Core by allowing apps such as Instagram, WhatsApp and Snapchat to tap on the technology to take equally good photographs as the primary camera app.

More about the Pixel Visual Core

Pixel Visual Core is built to do heavy-lifting image processing while using less power, which saves battery. That means we’re able to use that additional computing power to improve the quality of your pictures by running the HDR+ algorithm. Like the main Pixel camera, Pixel Visual Core also runs RAISR, which means zoomed-in shots look sharper and more detailed than ever before. Plus, it has Zero Shutter Lag to capture the frame right when you press the shutter, so you can time shots perfectly. What’s also exciting is these new features are available to any app—developers can find information on Google Open Source. – Google Blog

New AR Stickers

Also to be updated this month is the Augmented Reality (AR) stickers that are available on both Google’s flagship smartphones. Users had lots of fun playing with the current set of stickers especially the Star Wars themed stickers, and the Stranger Things themed stickers. So let’s see how creative the users can be with a winter sports themed stickers. The stickers should be available on your Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL by the end of this week.

What do you think of the upcoming updates? Share with us your thoughts.