2017 marked the return of one of THE big pioneers in the history of mobile phones to the smartphone market: Nokia. It’s not really the same company from the days of feature and Windows phones anymore (a company named HMD Global has licensed the brand name for their phones) but that doesn’t mean we should just ignore it. After launching a bunch of affordable entry-level and lower end mid-range devices (Nokia 3, 5 & 6), the Nokia 8 was the first quasi-flagship phone following the brand’s reboot.
One special feature of the Nokia 8 was something the company called the „Bothie“ for marketing purposes, obviously trying to convince people that a new flavour of the all-too-common „selfie“ is in town. A „Bothie“ is a split-screened snapshot that is taken with both front and rear cameras AT THE SAME TIME, giving you two different perspectives of the very same moment. For instance the image of a person looking at something AND the image of the scenery the person is looking at. What’s more: this mode not only works for photo but also for video, meaning you can record a split-screened video with both front and rear cameras simultaneously. It turns out however that Nokia actually wasn’t the first company to include such a feature in a smartphone. As early as 2013 (Samsung Galaxy S4 and LG Optimus G Pro) other phone makers equipped some of their phones with similar modes – of course they were/are all using different names for the same feature so we can get jolly confused when talking about it!
Before giving a brief overview on how these modes have been implemented by each manufacturer, you might ask how such a feature can be useful for a more professional video production context. I’d say there are two main use cases for which this mode could be a great asset: piece-to-camera reporting and vlogging – obviously those two areas can heavily intersect. Imagine a mobile journalist reporting from an event, let’s say a protest rally – it’s much more interesting for the audience to see both the reporter elaborating on what’s happening and the rally itself instead of just one or the other. Traditionally one would have to have two separate cameras (or take different shots successively) and edit in post-production to achieve the same but thanks to today’s smartphones having HD video capable cameras on the front and the back, this can be done a lot easier and faster.
Samsung’s “Dual Camera“ (discontinued) and “Vlogger Mode”
Right along with its Korean rival LG, Samsung was the first phone maker to introduce a dual video recording feature with the Galaxy S4 in April of 2013. This mode has been on all following Samsung flagships of the S- and Note-Series so far but you might have to download it as a sort of „plug-in“ from within the native camera app (there’s a „+“ button to add more camera modes). Samsung’s take is a picture-in-picture approach, not a traditional split-screen where both parts have exactly the same size (there IS a split-screen option but it’s barely useful with two 16:9 images side-by-side, extreme letter-boxing). With Samsung’s „Dual Camera“, one image always is the main image while the secondary image from the other camera is embedded into it. You can resize the picture-in-picture though and move it around within the main image – you can also swap between cameras during the recording. The recorded video file can have a resolution of up to 1080p with a traditional aspect ratio of 16:9 or 9:16. One very cool thing about Samsung’s native camera app is that unlike most other Android phones’ native camera apps it supports the use of external mics via the 3.5mm headphone jack or USB port which is a tremendous advantage for having professional-grade audio. One catch: You can only record up to 5 minutes for a single clip. The feature made it to the S8 but was axed for the S9 and neither included with the S10 or S20. However, in January 2021, Samsung announced the new Galaxy S21 series (S21, S21+ and S21 Ultra) and with it the return of the Dual Camera functionality albeit under a new name: Vlogger Mode (as part of the “Director’s View mode”). But who cares what they call it, it’s great that you can now again record video with both front and back cameras at the same time! It will be interesting to see if Samsung (like LG with the LG Wing) has also included the option to save the footage of both lenses as separate files or if it’s “only” a split-screen single file like in the past, I will definitely keep an eye on it!
HTC’s “Split Capture“ (discontinued)
HTC followed Samsung with a similar but slightly different feature (officially called “Split Capture”) on the HTC One M8, launched in March 2014. The recorded video was an equally sized left/right split-screen 1080p video with a 16:9/9:16 aspect ratio. HTC subsequently featured this mode in other phones like the Desire Eye and the One M9 but apparently ditched it after the M9 as the HTC 10 and more recent flagships like the U Ultra or U11 don’t seem to have it anymore.
LG’s “Snap Movie“ (discontinued) / “Match Shot“ (discontinued) / “Dual Recording”
In April 2013, LG introduced dual video recording with the LG Optimus G Pro (thanks to the user “Lal muan” for the info, see comments section!) and was – along with Samsung and its Galaxy S4 – the first Android phone maker to do so. Two years later, they redefined what a native camera app on a smartphone can deliver in terms of pro video controls with the release of the LG V10. But not only did the V10 have a unique manual video mode, the app also boasted some more playful features. Among them was a mode called „Snap Movie“ which basically invites you to create a short movie (maximum of one minute) out of short, different shots without having to muck around with an editing app. „Snap Movie“ is not a dual camera mode per se but one way of recording within this mode is to use a split-screen for simultaneously recording with both front and rear cameras. The image is recorded in 1080p with 16:9 or 9:16 aspect ratio. Big catch: You can only do so for a maximum of one minute! Flash forward to 2017 and the V30: While the „Snap Movie“ mode is gone (there’s something called „Snap Shot“ but that’s a completely different thing), there’s now a „Match Shot“ mode. With „Match Shot“ you can record a split-screen image using both front and rear cameras at the same time. You also have the option to select between regular and wide-angle lenses before starting the recording although the front camera actually only has one lens so it’s most likely a software crop. Two good things about the new mode: You are not limited to only one minute anymore and there’s also support for external mics. The recording format is a bit strange though as it’s a 18:9 or 9:18 aspect ration with a resolution of 2880×1440 (you can’t change the resolution at all). The beyond-FHD resolution is great but the rather non-standard aspect ratio (probably thanks to the 18:9 display of the phone) is a bit annoying for watching it on anything other than the phone itself because the image will either get letter-boxed on certain platforms like YouTube (I guess it’s not that much of a problem for Twitter and Facebook as they are more flexible with aspect ratios) or you will have to perform a crop in a video editing app and re-export in a more common 16:9 ratio. Unfortunately LG decided to ditch this feature with the V40 and the subsequent V-series models. I had actually thought it would be gone for good but the release of the LG Wing in October 2020 introduced the feature’s revival with a new and very welcome twist: For the first time on an Android device, the now “Dual Recording” dubbed mode lets you save the two perspectives as separate video files and not one pre-composed split-screen image. This is a huge deal as it gives you much more flexibility in post production!
Nokia’s “Dual Sight“
As it has become quite clear, Nokia’s „Bothie“ feature introduced with the Nokia 8 last year is actually “old news” – HMD Global just made it an integral part of their marketing campaign for the device unlike their predecessors. The mode’s proper name is „Dual Sight“ and it’s pretty much like the one HTC had, meaning it’s an equally sized split-screen image in 16:9 or 9:16 aspect ratio with a resolution of 1080p. The Nokia 8 however DOES have one new trick up its sleeve: live streaming integration! You can use the „Dual Sight“ feature not only for recording but also for live streaming video on Facebook and YouTube (not sure about Periscope) which can come in really handy for journalists and live vloggers. One probable shortcoming of this mode on the Nokia 8: while I’m not able to test myself, I’m pretty sure that Nokia’s native camera app doesn’t have support for external mics (the Nokia 5 definitely doesn’t). If you do own a Nokia 8 please let me know if my assumption is correct. Nokia has kept the Dual Sight feature on their 7 and 8-series phones with the latest addition being the Nokia 8.3 as of October 2020.
Huawei’s “Dual View”
I recently also discovered that Huawei has a mode called “Dual View” in its native camera app of the P30/P30 Pro. This works slightly different from the modes mentioned above as you can only use two of the rear cameras for the split-screen recording, not the front camera! While it’s good for certain situations like say an interview to record both a close-up and a wide-angle image of the interviewee, the lack of support for the front camera makes it less useful for vlogging or reporting. I don’t think it should be a technical problem to add the ability to use the front camera as well so there might be a chance that Huawei will improve things here. Like with the dual recording mode on other phones, this one basically runs in full-auto so don’t have precise control over exposure. The resolution is a rather idiosyncratic 2336×1080 at 30fps. On the positive side: External mics via the headphone jack (yes, the P30 re-introduced this feature, the P30 Pro however doesn’t have it!) are supported!
Oppo’s “Dual View”
In March 2021, Oppo, a really big player in the Chinese/Asian smartphone market that is also slowly establishing itself in other regions, released a bunch of new smartphones including the Find X3 series (Find X3 Pro, Find X3 Neo, Find X3 Lite) and the Reno 5 series (Reno 5, Reno 5 Pro). For the first time, Oppo phones now have the ability to record video with both front and rear cameras simultaneously. This is done in split-screen / picture-in-picture mode.
Dual Recording on iPhones with Filmic DoubleTake and other 3rd party apps
Some of you who have read the original blog post will have noticed that I even changed the title of the article for the 2020 update. The biggest reason for this is that I decided to include the iPhone due to major changes that happened with the release of iOS 13 and the introduction of a bunch of new iPhones in fall 2019. Apple has provided an API for 3rd party app developers to use multiple cameras simultaneously when recording video (or taking photos). The feature is however NOT available in Apple’s own native camera app. This is very interesting because on Android it’s basically the other way around: Dual camera video recording has been a proprietary feature of native camera apps on certain phones, there’s no API for 3rd party developers to use this feature (there’s something on the horizon but more about that in a bit). The first iOS app that took advantage of multi-cam recording was Filmic Inc.’s DoubleTake, Filmic’s CTO Chris Cohen even got to present the app live on stage during the Apple Event! DoubleTake lets you choose between a pair of cameras on your iPhone or iPad (front+rear, main rear+tele etc.) and record either as a single split-screen/picture-in-picture video or as two separate files. Particularly the fact that you can have two separate files is a very useful one as it gives you more flexibility to do what you want in post production with the two camera angels. What’s less exciting is the fact that DoubleTake doesn’t give you any control over exposure, white balance etc., it’s very bare-bones. Some might appreciate this simplistic approach but as Filmic’s well-known and extremely advanced Filmic Pro app is very popular among ambitious videographers, I suppose others are craving at least a bit more manual control for DoubleTake despite the fact that dialing in/adjusting a whole bunch of parameters for two shots at the same time is definitely a challenge. Then again, for vlogging and on the go to-camera-reporting, many might want to rely on auto-controls anyway because they would constantly have to readjust and check settings which is not only inconvenient but could also fail to deliver the desired result. I suppose there are different subjective angles on this topic. So let’s cover some quick facts: Frame rates are limited to 24, 25 and 30fps, resolution to 1920×1080. External mics are supported. The other thing that we need to keep in mind when talking about DoubleTake (and basically all the other similar apps as well) is that it only works on relatively recent iOS devices running at least iOS 13. DoubleTake is currently compatible with: iPhone 11 Pro Max, 11 Pro, 11, Xs Max, Xs, Xr, SE 2020, iPad Pro 2018/2020. As indicated, DoubleTake is not the only iOS app that jumped at the chance to offer multi-camera video recording. In contrast to Filmic’s separate app, MoviePro (another well-established pro video recording app) opted to integrate the functionality into its main app. There’s also a whole bunch of completely new apps that popped up in the wake of the API’s introduction (shout-out to Marc Blank-Settle for the collection): MixCam, Multicam Pro, Vlogger, Dualgram, DuoCam, MeWe Camera, Multicam Recording Dual Camera, DUBL Pro, GEMI, Dizzi and many more to come I would reckon.
Are Android 3rd party devs not invited to the dual cam party?
While Android (or at least some Android OEMs like Samsung, LG and HTC) beat Apple with the dual camera recording feature by half a decade, there has never been an official Android API for 3rd party app developers to tap into and make this feature available for a wider audience. There’s hope however! When I consulted the official release notes for the latest Android version (Android 11), I noticed a very interesting paragraph headline: “Support for concurrent use of more than one camera”. There, you can read the following: “Android 11 adds APIs to query support for using more than one camera at a time, including both a front-facing and rear-facing camera.” While I’m no Android developer, this very much sounds like 3rd party app developers should soon be able to create dual camera video recording apps on Android. The fact that this feature brought with it some serious compatibility fragmentation even on such a streamlined platform like iOS will most likely result in the reality that only more powerful Android devices will be able to pull this off. It will be interesting to see who will be first on Android to release a dedicated dual video recording app. Will it be an Android version of Filmic’s DoubleTake or a new kid on the block? I can’t wait!
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Is there any generic app that i can install on my oneplus 5t and enjoy dual camera recording simultaneously.
Unfortunately, there’s no 3rd party app available that can do that because the phone makers (so far) do not provide access to this functionality for developers. Some apps on the PlayStore claim they can do something like that but it’s never simultaneous. To use simultaneous dual camera recording you will need one of the mentioned phones from LG, Samsung or Nokia and use the native camera app. OnePlus to my knowledge does not provide this feature in their native app.
This is a great article, but I don’t want a split screen / picture in picture effect. I am looking for a phone that can create 2 separate video files for the front and rear cameras during simultaneous recording. I don’t want a video file with a split screen view. I just want 2 clean / separate video files for the front and rear cameras. Do you know any phones that offer such a feature?
Hi! Currently I don’t know of any phone that can do that. Samsung has a dual recording mode that allows live switching of the two perspectives in full screen upon playback on the device itself but from what I can see, it’s still recorded into one file, not two separate files. You could however use two phones on a rig to get a similar effect, certain phone holders/clamps should be able to hold two phones back-to-back.
Tom, it’s quite possible that your current device is capable of that. Most likely, not at double full HD resolution.
I am wondeering can pixel realize same function?
Theoretically yes, the Pixel series definitely has more than enough horsepower to support this feature but I don’t think Google has implemented it in the Pixel’s native camera app. Maybe they would if enough people ask…
I have an LG-e980, its a few years old now, bought it just for the dual video PiP for YouTube vids.
That’s very interesting. I didn’t know LG had this on such an old device. I reckon the PiP looks like the dual recording Samsung has? Because the dual recording on current LG flagships isn’t PiP but an even split-screen.
Yep, pip, and you can resize and move around the inside frame! I want to say you can flip front to back while in dual record, but havent used the mode in a while.
Is there any company using the video feed from a front and back camera simultaneously within a video call?
If not, why not?
Infinix Note 4 was claimed as having this feature hence I purchased it, only to find this as well as scroll shot feature be removed after update, thereby whole purpose of purchasing for reporting and Evidence videos gone out the door right at the start & yes pretty high profile case so not suspicious at all what would have happened!
Infinix Note 4 runs MT6753 chipset from Mediatek, which has dual camera capability open to any user app (unlike the devices described in the original post). Unfortunately, there seem to be no decent apps on Play Store that you can just install and get simultaneous photo in both directions.
Thank you for putting together such an in-dept article. It may be worth noting that since the time of the original publishing of your article, some drastic changes have occurred. As of the Galaxy S9/S9+ and the Android 9.0 Pie updates, Samsung has removed the Dual Camera mode which offered simultaneous use of both the front and back camera. Additionally, Apple announced that they would finally be be adding the ability to utilize both font and back cameras simultaneously as part of iOS 13. Some interesting developments that seems counter intuitive to the direction Samsung and HTC have taken but with the rise of Live Streaming and online users broadcasting their every day lives, only time will tell which companies made the right moves.
Samsung’s Pie update was a nightmare for everyone using the pro video mode, can’t believe they just killed it while leaving pro mode for photo untouched. It’s a shame to hear that they also ditched the dual camera mode. LG did the same on the V40, the dual camera mode from the V30 is gone. Very unfortunate.
I totally agree. I have even purchased a Samsung Galaxy S8+ instead of the later models just to preserve the ability and use of the Dual Mode camera mode. But it seems I’ll have to refrain from updating to Android Pie, ever, unless they bring back dual mode. It’s a shame, such a shame. Even the complaints made on Samsung’s forums have yet to be acknowledged as worth noting, all they’ve had to say was to confirm it was removed. Third party apps don’t seem to have it quite right yet but maybe, hopefully, someday they will.
So, after some discussions on the Samsung Community forums, a bunch of us decided we would really make an effort to make it known that we would like Dual Camera back and, we started an online petition: https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/revive-dual-cam Please sign if you’re missing this feature like the rest of us!
Thanks for this post… It looks like this feature is unavailable on most (every) Android today, right? I have a Pixel 2XL and can’t see any way to do this. I guess I could charge up my old Samsung. 🙂
It’s indeed only available on very few devices and OEMs that had it in the past even scrapped the feature: HTC already years ago, Samsung and LG more recently. I personally have an LG V30 which has the dual recording mode but the V40 and V50 apparently don’t have it anymore. Also my Samsung S7 has it but newer Sammy flagships don’t as far as I have heard. It’s a shame as it is a very cool feature in my opinion and the improving processors with more computing power should make it even easier to implement. Nokia might be the only company currently still holding on to it. Google doesn’t have a feature like that for the Pixel and as there is no API it’s also not possible for 3rd party devs to jump in. Ironically, while Android phone makers seem to ditch the feature they once pioneered, Apple just got into it with iOS 13. The cool thing about their approach is that they opened it for 3rd party devs and you have the option to record separate files instead of a single split-screen one.
Thanks for the reply. I dug out my old S7 and installed Dual Camera and made a recording, but alas, when it uploaded to Google Photos, there was only the recording from the front facing camera. 😦
It was fun, though.
You might have been shooting in the “Flip” dual camera mode which as far as I know doesn’t work with other apps. If you record in other dual camera modes (like “Window” or “Split”), the resulting clip should look the same when played back elsewhere. You might have missed the different dual camera recording modes available when tapping the double camera icon on the left in the live preview.
Wait – I found that the FLIP template keeps the video in two files, whereas any other template bonds them together. https://youtu.be/h0KZuSPOegc?t=226
Thanks for your post in helping me discover this!!!
Hey. Is there an update to your article? Which 2020 phone have this feature? Thanks
Hi! Not really as pretty much every Android phone maker seems to have dropped it unfortunately (Nokia could still have it but I don’t have one of their latest phones). As mentioned in another comment though Apple has introduced an API with iOS 13 that lets 3rd party apps use multiple cameras at the same time on recent iPhones. FilmicPro for instance has released the app DoubleTake which makes great use of it. Here’s hoping that Google will do the same for Android.
Also on Motorola phones, the Z series supports moto mods. One of the moto mods is the 3D camera that snaps onto the back and rises above the phone. It utilizes two wide angle sensors back to back and stitches it together to make a 3D capture.
Hi! Thanks for the input. I think you might be confusing “3D” with 360° video which are two different things. For a stereoscopic 3D image you need two lenses aligned in the same direction, but slightly apart to create the effect. 360° cameras use two lenses back-to-back to stich together a circular image. I assume you are talking about the Moto Mod 360 Camera?
Yes, yes I meant to say 360°, it is not 3D.
I think you’re wrong to say that Samsung Galaxy S4 initiated the dual-camera mode. Technogeeks are well aware that LG always leads the way when it comes to innovative featute pioneering. Check out the LG Optimus series (launched 2012). I’m sure at least the G Pro launched early 2013 had the dual camera feature well before the Galaxy S4 did.
Although your reply comes with a bit of negative vibe, I just checked and you are in fact right. So thanks for pointing that out. If you follow my blog or on Twitter you will notice that I’m quite a fan of LG phones so there definitely wasn’t any negative bias against them. I simply wasn’t aware because I only got my first smartphone in fall 2013. Anyway, I was going to update the article soon in light of the developments with iOS and the new LG Wing regarding dual recording. I will include the info about the LG Optimus Pro (possibly) being the first when doing so.
@Lal muan Wait so, are you a “Technogeek”? Because the one thing you said you were sure about (“I’m sure at least the G Pro launched early 2013 had the dual camera feature well before the Galaxy S4”) ended up being wrong and then what you *thought* was wrong (“I think you’re wrong to say that Samsung Galaxy S4…”) wasn’t even half right. So it made me wonder if perhaps I misunderstood what you meant by “Technogeek,” if you were one, or if you were making generalizations about a social class that you’re not a part of, because I’m not sure how one could claim “LG always leads the way when it comes to innovative feature pioneering.”
I will admit that LG was one of the first, at least to my knowledge and what I think I can remember from Linus Tech Tips, to pioneer the transparent display and LG Chem is the one, who was more recently mentioned in the news, accredited with pioneering the new Ultium batteries which is used by Tesla and will be used by GMC in their new Cadillacs and EMV-Hummer. But that’s in the industry of television displays and electric vehicles. So to say “always leads the way,” especially on the topic of cell phones, makes me wonder if you know something I don’t and hope that you could clarify for me what you meant.
I.e.~
In 1973 it was a Motorola engineer who was credited as the inventor of the cellphone
(Motorola, was later purchased by and now owned by Lenovo)
In 1993, Bellsouth and IBM announced the world’s first smartphone (Neither of which have relation to LG)
In 2002 the first phones with built-in cameras were publicly released by Nokia and Sanyo (Whereas Nokia was sold by Microsoft in 2016 to a subsidiary of Hon Hai/Foxconn & HMD Global while Sanyo is now owned by Panasonic)
In 2003 the first & infamous Blackberry was released which offered email, texting, a web browser and its proprietary BlackBerry Messenger service
In 2007, Apple launched the first iPhone which became known for being a mobile phone, ipod/mp3 player, and wireless communication device all in one.
In all these historic periods of innovation in the cell phone manufacturing industry, if it what you are saying was true and LG was “always* leading the way when it comes to innovative feature pioneering,” then what are some of the things they pioneered in the cell phone industry that I don’t know about, clearly there’s something you know that we don’t. Please share and enlighten us.
PS @FR of SmartFilming, it’s been awhile but we just finally passed 100 signatures on our petition to bring back the dual camera mode for Samsung lol, hope you’re doing well!
Then again after doing some further research, your statement also isn’t exactly correct: You say the Optimus G Pro had the dual camera “well before the Galaxy S4”. I just checked, both phones launched in April 2013. Don’t ask me about the day, let’s not be that nit-picky. So I might be guilty of not mentioning the Optimus G Pro as well but Samsung S4 definitely deserves its place as a pioneer as well unless you can find definitive proof that another phone really came “well before”.
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