After window dressing and teasing At the Android Show just a few weeks ago“Screen Reactions” is now live in the latest version Android 17 QPR1 Beta 4 release for compatible Pixel phones.
With the release of the latest Android 17 preview, we now have an idea of how Screen Reactions’ green screen-like effect will work with Pixel devices. There’s a new “Show Selfie Camera” option baked into the system’s screen recorder, which will appear alongside other controls for the built-in video option.
This method negates the external editing or external software process that was often needed on previous Pixel phones to get these green screen video clips. Instead, you can do it all natively from the system app and have it ready to download or share right away, no further editing or tweaking required.
You can only use Screen Reactions when recording your entire screen. This option is not available when using the “Single program” recording option. As soon as you change the selection, you’ll get an instant preview before shooting, allowing you to frame, set up and prepare.
There’s also a paint swatch tool, so you can add a colorful background to your little selfie video. This helps if you want to stand out from the screenshot in question. Unfortunately, there are currently only six color options available, including black, purple, red, blue, green, and orange. Hopefully this will expand or allow custom color sometime in the future.
This will immediately change the local microphone recording, but you can turn this off if you want, as it is not necessary for Screen Reactions to work.
Subject isolation is very good, with crisp cuts that work well with your face, shoulders, even hands and other items. Considering that screen reactions are driven by the selfie camera and work on lower resolution selfie cameras like the Pixel A series, the results are impressive.
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