Let's Go Take Pictures

When I wrote the post about the EX Raid yesterday, I also included a picture of Deoxys, as I've customarily done for some time now. It does, however, look slightly different: there is no "watermark" of the Trainer name on the lower right corner. That's because this picture was taken when the new picture feature - something I've hinted when I posted photos of Mewtwo - became live, which happened to be a couple of days ago. The feature is officially dubbed as "Go Snapshot" and it takes taking pictures of Pokémon in Pokémon Go to a new level, so to speak.

This feature is essentially an upgrade of the camera item and function. Now the camera can be invoked normally while encountering a Pokémon in the wild, as well as for any Pokémon that are in a Trainer's Box (through the information page for a Pokémon, or by using the camera as an item from the Bag and then picking a Pokémon). This means that Pokémon not very commonly or at all found in the wild - such as baby, region-exclusive, and item-evolved Pokémon - can now be photographed just like their wild kin, with some restrictions to be detailed in a bit.

Sharing of pictures is also made much easier, at least for when taking photos of Pokémon from the Box. In doing so, several photos can be taken and saved in one session, and then immediately shared to preferred channels with a few taps. This is highly convenient for those who are photo and Pokémon fiends. Even so, at least in my case, photos taken of Pokémon in the wild (that is, encountering for capture) retain the old behavior of keep/discard after each shot, and have to be shared manually... but this may be fine, considering that's not a primary objective.

This feature is supported for all phones that can support AR, but phones that can support AR+ have a few extra sub-features, such as moving Pokémon to particular spots and getting its attention. I have to vouch for that; my phone doesn't support AR+, so I can only take pictures of a Pokémon in my Box from the front (and vertically), or a Pokémon in the wild from certain angles. And then there is the "watermark" thing, which may be welcoming for some and annoying for others - for me personally, now it may be hard to say that the shots are truly mine.

No, the Mew project is not live again.
But it's a good example.

I suppose if my phone supported AR+, I would very much enjoy this updated camera functionality, as well as all of the perks that come along with that feature. But to be able to take pictures of Pokémon that I previously couldn't and to quickly share them is already a major step forward. I'll still take pictures the old-fashioned way during an encounter, but I also look forward to be able to utilize the updated functionality as much as possible for the Pokémon I already have. They both will still make for many great pictures.

One year ago: Community Days!
Two years ago: Competitive or Non-Competitive?