LG announces new AI-based camera features for upcoming V30S at MWC

LG is all set to announce an upgraded variant of the V30 at MWC dubbed the V30S, and ahead of the event the manufacturer has highlighted a few features that will be making their way to the device. The company said that it was researching AI-based solutions for over a year now, focusing on image and voice recognition:

LG spent more than a year researching how AI should be implemented in smartphones, long before announcing LG ThinQ at CES 2018. This research focused primarily on making AI-based solutions with the objective to deliver a unique and more intuitive user experience, focusing on the camera and voice recognition. The result is a suite of AI technologies that is aligned closely with the needs and usage behavior of today's users.

To that effect, LG is announcing two new features that leverage artificial intelligence: Vision AI and Voice AI. Vision AI automatically analyzes objects to serve up recommendations on the best shooting mode, which is similar to what Huawei does in the Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro. LG says that the feature takes several factors into account, like angle of view, color, reflections, backlighting, and saturation levels, offering recommendations from the eight shooting modes available: portrait, food, pet, landscape, city, sunrise, sunset, and flower.

LG says that it worked with a "partner in image recognition" to analyze over 100 million images — coming up with over a thousand unique categories — to fine-tune the phone's image recognition algorithms. Vision AI will also be able to automatically scan QR codes, and the feature will automatically tweak settings to increase brightness "by a factor of two" when taking low-light images.

As for Voice AI, LG has worked with Google to introduce exclusive voice commands for Google Assistant. The company rolled out 23 commands last year, with an additional nine commands making their debut on the V30S.

LG announced earlier this year that it would stop releasing new phones every year, and instead of iterating on hardware, the company is now looking to AI for differentiation From LG's senior vice president and head of mobile unit Ha Jeung-uk:

As we communicated last month at CES, the future for LG lies in AI, not just hardware specs and processing speeds. Creating smarter smartphones will be our focus going forward and we are confident that consumers will appreciate the advanced user experience with the enhanced V30 that many have been asking and waiting for.

LG also said that some of the features that will be debuting on the V30S will be making their way to older models. With MWC just under two weeks away, we don't have to wait long to find out what's in store with the V30S.