Page 4 - April_Newsletter_2021

Windows 10 update will fix a huge irritation when making

Zoom, Teams and Skype calls

MICROSOFT is testing a new webcam boosting upgrade that will make your next video call

look so much better.

With the current health crisis keeping most of us locked indoors we've never been so reliant on
services such as Zoom, Google Meet, Teams and Skype. Endless video calls to friends, colleagues
and family have helped keep us all in touch but it's highly likely that many PC users have been left
pretty shocked by just how terrible the webcams that are tucked inside their laptops are.

With only a tiny amount of space to fit these mini video recorders into, most tech firms opt for
pretty low-resolution cameras when designing their next-generation laptops. For example, Mi-
crosoft's new Surface laptop only arrives with a standard 720p webcam and most Windows 10 ma-
chines offer similar specs.

Even Apple only includes 720p FaceTime camera in its latest models and although the quality is
boosted via the latest M1 processor it still lags way behind the 1080p TrueDepth Camera that fea-
tures on the iPad Pro.

Now it seems Microsoft wants to help improve our video calls with an update that's sure to be wel-
comed by its millions of users.
As spotted by the team at Windows Latest, it appears that a future upgrade, named Windows 10

Sun Valley 21H2, will allow users to tweak the settings on their webcam. Until now, this is some-
thing that's not been easy but that's about to change.

Once installed, users will be able to adjust the brightness and contrast of their cameras via sliding
menu bars which should go some way to help boost the image quality and make your room and
face look a lot less gloomy.

You'll even get a sample image of how you'll look giving you time to get the perfect appearance
before heading online.

It's a good update but that's not all that Microsoft has planned.

Along with tweaking the camera settings, there's also the addition of better privacy settings.

This means you'll be able to see more easily when apps, such as Google Chrome or Teams, are ac-
cessing your camera.

When any third-party applications have taken control of your webcam you'll get an instant alert in
the taskbar revealing exactly what is going on.

There's no exact launch time for this update although Windows Latest says they are currently in
the test phase and should arrive on PCs later in the year.