TL;DR
- Samsung has added an Ocean Mode to the Galaxy S24 Ultra.
- This camera mode automatically takes a photo every two seconds while reducing blue tones and motion blur.
- Ocean Mode is only available to researchers as part of coral reef restoration efforts.
Samsung just announced the Galaxy S25 series, but the company also revealed that it implemented a rather cool camera mode on the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Unfortunately, it’s not available to most users.
Samsung revealed at its Unpacked event last week that it developed a so-called Ocean Mode for the Galaxy S24 Ultra. This mode “optimizes” underwater photography on the smartphone and is meant to let researchers take photos of coral reefs. The data captured by the phone in this mode can also be used to create 3D maps of coral reefs to assist with restoration projects by Seatrees and the University of California San Diego.
What makes Samsung’s Ocean Mode stand out?
ZDNet Korea also shed more light on this feature, noting that the phone automatically takes photos every two seconds in this mode. Image quality enhancements include reducing the “excessive” blue tones to see the natural color of the reefs, and motion blur reduction via multi-frame processing and shutter speed optimizations.
This wouldn’t be the first phone with underwater optimizations, though. HUAWEI was one of the first brands to offer an underwater mode with 2018’s Mate 20 Pro. Google’s Pixels also offered an underwater mode with specific cases before bringing this function to all cases with the Pixel 9 series. In saying so, the automatic nature of Samsung’s mode is very convenient compared to HUAWEI and Google’s solutions, which require a tap of the volume button to manually shoot.
We’ve asked the company whether it has any plans to bring this feature or a similar mode to phones in the future and will update the article accordingly. It’s a niche mode, but it would be handy for snorkelers and scuba divers who don’t want to use a GoPro.
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