Xiaomi Silent AI Camera first review: camera with artificial intelligence for $55

Every day people around the world take millions of photos, but some of them are difficult to take. The reason may be that the photographer does not always have his hands free, or the camera is located at a distance from the user. The Xiaomi Silent AI Camera can be a good helper. You will no longer need to set a timer and run headlong to catch a group photo.

How does Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 take pictures?

The main dual camera of Redmi Note 7 is 12 + 5 megapixels, which Xiaomi calls 48 megapixels, with a small caveat - 48 megapixels is only possible in Pro mode. You click on “48MP” and the camera shoots at 48 megapixels. There are manual settings for ISO, shutter speed, focus and white balance, but during the day it shoots well on automatic.

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History of AI development in smartphones

Before the advent of dedicated processors, artificial intelligence in smartphones was used to recognize people, faces or smiles in the lens. The implementation of NPU began in 2017, after the presentation by ARM of the Dynamiq microarchitecture, which increases the speed of working with AI.

Huawei was one of the first to use a neural processor in its proprietary Kirin 970 single-chip system. This allowed:

  • increase the speed of solving problems by reducing the power consumption of the device;
  • use facial recognition technology to unlock the device. Especially in combination with a 3D camera module that can recognize the wearer's expression in minimal lighting. The presence of machine learning makes it possible to distinguish the owner if he tries on glasses, changes his hairstyle or wears a scarf;
  • recognize speech. Affects the accuracy of voice and phrase detection by a voice assistant or online translator;
  • optimize work processes. The phone marks frequently used applications and adds them to RAM to increase the speed of loading programs after startup;
  • work with the gallery. Being able to distinguish people from animals, and clouds from trees, mobile devices have learned to create thematic folders. This made it easier to sort pictures;
  • further stabilize. In addition to optical and electronic, intelligent photo and video stabilization has appeared.

Xiaomi smartphones are powered by chipsets from Snapdragon, which have abandoned the separate NPU unit. Instead, AI is implemented in them through auxiliary processors like DSP, Hexagon and the graphics core. The company calls this solution the AI ​​Engine, and it is inferior to the dedicated NPU in Kirin. For example, the Kirin 9000 scores 148 points in the AI ​​benchmark test versus 59.9 points for the Snapdragon 865 Plus - this is about 240% of the difference. Kirin's closest competitor is the mid-budget Dimensity 1000+ from MediaTek with a score of 92.3 points.

The situation may change after the official launch of the Snapdragon 875 and Exynos 1080 platforms according to leaks that received a dedicated NPU. And given the sanctions against Huawei, their Kirin 9000 will be the manufacturer’s last proprietary platform.

Briefly about the main thing

To summarize, I would like to note:

  • Watermark cameras in Xiaomi smartphones are not available in all devices. It is mainly found in flagships and top-end devices in the mid-price segment.
  • You can easily disable watermark creation in the camera settings. There you can also change the text of the inscription to any other and delete the date.
  • You can remove a watermark from a finished photo using the standard gallery on Xiaomi smartphones or using alternative photo editors. The simplest and most convenient is Google Snapseed.

The most impressive selfies

Typically, selfies are edited after the photo is taken to adjust color settings or edit certain aspects of the image before sharing them on social media. But if you look closely, Huawei phones have HDR mode with AI for the front camera. This mode will enhance the tones and give more strength to the background of the image, while respecting the user's features. The result is a photo or video with a more professional feel, which also prevents overexposure.

To enable HDR Mode with AI, we open the camera application and select Front camera. Then select Portrait, Photo or Video. After that we play HDR to enable HDR with AI. Then all that's left to do is point the lens into the frame and press the shutter button to start taking a selfie or video.

Setting the picture quality

Before taking photographs, you should set the camera quality to maximum. To do this, you need to open the standard camera application.

Next, the setup is performed according to the following algorithm:


default settings

  • Set the photo quality section to “high”. After these steps, the details of the image become clear;
  • Next, you need to select the desired frame format. The standard option is 4:3. It uses a matrix to create a frame. As for the 16:9 widescreen option, the top and bottom areas will be excluded, after which the image size will be reduced. This format is best used on smartphones with a small amount of memory, since the resulting photos take up an order of magnitude less space;
  • It is recommended to adjust the sharpness level. It should be "low" or "lowest". Thanks to this, the pictures acquire quality and naturalness, there is no noise effect;
  • In the contrast section, set the level to “normal”;
  • Then you should set the exposure mode to “average”. Thanks to this, the brightness will be evenly distributed across the entire display;
  • Clarity is set to “high” (not available on all models);
  • It is recommended to select “medium” saturation.

After this setting, there is a noticeable improvement in the quality of the photos. However, it should be taken into account that under different conditions in which the picture is taken, the parameters must be adjusted. For example, this is necessary if the camera is used in a dark room or, conversely, in bright light.

Features Quad Pixel, Quad Bayer and Tetracell

Quad Pixel, Quad Bayer and Tetracell use the same operating principle. The only difference is in the registered trade names by different companies: Quad Bayer - Sony, Tetracell - Samsung, etc. A color filter covers a group of four pixels in a 2x2 block without changing the color pattern. Thanks to this, the sensor is able to work both in full-size mode using all pixels, and in 4-in-1 combining mode.

In merge mode, the physical resolution of the photo is reduced by 4 times. Therefore, the size of an image from a 48 MP sensor is comparable to a 12 MP sensor with a classic pixel order. At the same time, an array of four pixels has higher photosensitivity due to the increased area. As an example, a comparison of the 48-megapixel camera with Quad Pixel in the Motorola Moto G8+ and Moto G6 with a regular 12-megapixel sensor.

The characteristics of the camera modules of both smartphones are slightly different, but in low street lighting conditions, the picture from the G8+ is brighter and contains more details.

With plenty of sunlight in the long shot, the shot looks equally good from both cameras. At the same time, the brightness of the image on the G8+ is higher, as is the detail when zoomed in. Photos in original resolution.

If the software allows you to manually select the operating mode, pixel stitching is effective when shooting in low light conditions. During the day or in a room with plenty of light, it is rational to use all the pixels of the matrix to obtain a full-size frame.

Xiaomi Silent AI Camera: Specifications

The Silent AI Camera sensor is developed by Samsung. It has 13 megapixels with f/2.2 aperture and autofocus. In terms of performance, the camera is powered by a quad-core Cortex-A53 processor clocked at 1.3 GHz. The internal memory is 8 GB, expandable using a microSD card. Photos, as mentioned earlier, can be viewed through the corresponding smartphone application. The application also allows you to edit photos.

The Xiaomi camera measures 47 x 74 x 27 mm and weighs only 65 g. The battery capacity is 910 mAh.

IA Cinema Mode

When it comes to recording video from the main camera, Huawei has IA Cinema Mode activated to select different effects in real time. To do this, we simply need to start recording video in normal mode and select the movie effect we want to use.

  • Background blur: Allows you to record videos with bokeh effect. That is, we can follow a focused person while the background remains blurred.
  • AI Color: When active, the color of the object we focus on remains in color while the rest of the scene becomes black and white. Works on people, pets and even objects.
  • Vintage, Thriller or Fresh: These three filters allow you to play with the hue, saturation and brightness of your video. We can choose any of them to record clips with artistic effects in real time.

Define Scenes

Thanks to artificial intelligence, Huawei phones can recognize multiple scenes and automatically adjust settings to achieve the best results. Depending on the model we have, more than 1,500 scenes from 25 different categories can be defined. Once recognized, the mobile phone automatically changes colors, brightness and contrast, highlighting every detail and creating better photos.

To activate the Master IA Scene , open the camera, go to “Settings” and activate Smart Shot. Now the phone will automatically select the best shooting mode and improve the quality of your photos. The device can recognize, among other things, pets, cars, flowers, fireworks or old buildings.

The best apps to remove watermarks

If your gallery app doesn't have a feature to remove watermarks or you want to edit someone else's photo, there are a few alternatives. For the most part, these are full-fledged mobile photo editors, but the required functionality is present in them, which makes it possible to use them to remove signatures from photos.

Snapseed

A powerful free photo editor for Android smartphones from Google developers. It features a large set of tools, an impressive number of filters and effects. Watermarks are removed quickly and efficiently with a special tool called “Spot Correction”.

Snapseed on Google Play

Other applications include:

  • Photoshop Express (free). Probably the most popular photo editor for Android smartphones. Its special feature is a large set of image editing tools. The user can do whatever he wants with the photo. There is a certain number of filters and effects with ready-made templates. The watermark removal tool does its job well.
  • BG Studio Remove Unwanted Object (free). A simple application that is designed to remove unnecessary objects from a photo. It is worth noting that the program copes well not only with watermarks, but also with any other objects. After careful processing there are no traces of interference in the composition of the image. In addition, BG Studio contains a set of simple filters with a number of ready-made templates.
  • AirBrush (shareware). A powerful editor for working with images of any level. Characterized by a large number of professional instruments and effects. The application not only famously removes watermarks from phones, but also allows you to turn a mediocre photo into a real masterpiece. However, there is a drawback: the free version has a lot of advertising, as well as significantly reduced functionality. It is better to use the full version of the application.
  • iWatermark (sharely free). A small program for Android smartphones that not only removes watermarks from images, but is also capable of adding them to photos. Working with the application is quite simple, as it has an intuitive interface. Some features are not available in the free version. Also in the Free version from Google Play there is a large number of non-cancellable advertisements.

Xiaomi Silent AI Camera: Equipment

The camera comes with a mount that allows you to securely mount the camera on any wall, wood or even glass. The smart camera has a magnetic base, so it can be installed on a metal surface without any problems.

How to define the concept of artificial intelligence?

Artificial intelligence

is a branch of computer science that deals with the creation of computers to perform tasks that were previously only capable of the human brain, such as learning, reasoning, and logical construction.

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