Google’s artificial intelligence powered Clips camera is now on sale at an surprisingly reasonable $250 USD price tag. The nifty bit of tech was first revealed to the world at the Pixel 2 event back in October, and caused quite the stir with the main concept. The device is designed to “… recognise the best moments and composition…”, as well as to automatically shoot when it decides the occasion is right. The Clips camera shoots short ‘clips’ of videos which can then be reviewed, saved, or deleted in the companion Google Clips app.
Although it can be operated manually by a human (duh), the draw is that it can be placed anywhere a view is on display, observe the events, and do all the heavy lifting. Framing, timing, whatnot– that’s the little machine buddy’s responsibilities now. Clips’ automatic “intelligent” mode allows everyone to be in the shot, so the days of that one person sitting it out can now be a thing of the past.
Onto the specs, the camera has a resolution of 12MP and can record at 15fps. While this isn’t much more than baseline standard in this day and age, the image is still crisp enough. The lens possesses a 130° angle of view, which, again, while not the most impressive, it certainly suits the need. Images are stored in the 16GB internal memory. There has been no indication as to whether expandable memory will be added into the build, but for the nature of the use, 16GB should be more than enough. The camera can run for three hours on a single charge, and connects via USB-C, Bluetooth, or Wi-fi.
In terms of the AI, professional photographers were thoroughly consulted in order to gain an understanding of what constitutes a good or a bad picture. The algorithm analyses the events in live time, taking into consideration all the elements within the frame, before executing the decision as to whether or not it warrants recording. The camera also reportedly learns about the people you interact with. And will naturally record more of the people it sees more often often, assuming they are closer or of significance to you. Now that’s handy.
The Google Clips is available for order now, with deliveries expected to arrive between the end of February and the beginning of March.
