Google patent delivers close-up photos when your phone can't, Blade Runners would approve

[ ](http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/25/google-patent-delivers-close-up-photos-when-your-phone-cant/)

It's been 30 years since_ _we saw Deckard [track down replicants](http://www.engadget.com/tag/bladerunner) by having a machine "enhance" pictures, and yet we're still stuck with distant-looking photos when we want more detail than our smartphone cameras can manage. While we'd argue that a few phones already live in that [_Blade Runner_ future](http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/26/nokia-808-pureview-review/), Google has just obtained a patent that could give the rest of us a helping hand. If the zoom isn't up to snuff, the proposed software could gauge a mobile device's position and orientation to offer a closer, already-taken photo from a server as a substitute, whether it's a [Street View](http://www.engadget.com/tag/StreetView/) shot or a more traditional image. The geocoded system could even cue photos based on the time of day and year to provide that extra dash of authenticity. We already get a trace of the concept through photo overlays within Street View itself, although there's no indication as to whether or not Google will link our camera apps directly to a cloud of substitute photos -- suffice it to say that the industry has [changed a lot](http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/28/android-4-1-jelly-bean-review-a-look-at-whats-changed-in-googl/) since Google was using the [iPhone 3G](http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/11/iphone-3g-review/) to illustrate its photography concepts.

Filed under: [Cellphones](http://www.engadget.com/category/cellphones/), [Cameras](http://www.engadget.com/category/cameras/), [Internet](http://www.engadget.com/category/internet/), [Software](http://www.engadget.com/category/software/), [Mobile](http://www.engadget.com/category/mobile/)

[Google patent delivers close-up photos when your phone can't, Blade Runners would approve](http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/25/google-patent-delivers-close-up-photos-when-your-phone-cant/) originally appeared on [Engadget](http://www.engadget.com) on Tue, 25 Sep 2012 17:27:00 EDT. Please see our [terms for use of feeds](http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/).

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