Google's Pixel phones may offer stellar still photography, but they've never been known to focus much effort on video. That seems to be changing with the release of the Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a 5G. Google is bringing a handful of new "Hollywood-inspired" stabilization effects that should make videos a lot more fun to capture: Locked, Active, and Cinematic Pan.

According to Google's support page, Locked is meant for capturing faraway still shots, while Active is better for videos with a lot of heavy motion, such as sporting events. The cinematic pan effect was made to give videos a sweeping, dramatic look to make your everyday life look like a movie. It achieves this by stabilizing video and slowing it down by 2x — it'll make those cute videos of your pets even harder to resist.

Starting with the Pixel 2, Google's flagship phones have utilized some smart stabilization techniques that are actually pretty interesting. But were these techniques Hollywood-inspired? I think not! All jokes aside, it does seem like these new video stabilization modes are sure to come in handy in certain situations. Time will tell if these additions actually change how people think about Pixel phones when it comes to video quality.

The three new stabilization modes will be available on the new Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a 5G devices. It's unclear if or to what extent previous Pixels will support them, as it's likely they make use of the new wide-angle camera found on Google's latest phones.

Source: Google Support