With the departure of the new Google phones, a software feature has garnered a lot of attention: the magic eraser. Integrated with Google Photos, the Pixel 6 can automatically remove unwanted elements from any image. And we checked out how it works: it often seems almost magical.
Few software features created by Google have garnered as much hype as Magic Eraser, a tool built into Google Photos that offered as an exclusive benefit of the Google Pixel. And we tested it: While it may not always work accurately, the truth is that it can remove elements from images almost like magic. That person who sneaks in at the least expected moment, a tree that spoils the panoramic view … The possibilities are endless.
From Google Photos and suitable for any image
Google has created a tool on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning that it has been training for more than four years. And it was time to include it in one of their phones, there was the Pixel 6 to assume the exclusivity. As we were able to confirm in our own Google Pixel 6, the magic eraser works very well although it is obviously not perfect.
Magic Eraser works with any image from Google Photos gallery, is already taken with the Pixel 6 as with any other phone (even with imported photos). After enabling it in the edit menu (in “Tools”), just draw a line around what you want to remove for Google AI to analyze the image and delete the element trying to cover the space by making up that part of the scene which is empty. Depending on the light, the number of elements in the photo and whether it is taken outdoors or not, the results will be better or worse.
According to our tests, Google can remove certain elements without leaving a trace or create real “globs” which will render the image useless. As in any automatic editing tool, results depend on so many factors that it is impossible to control them. Even so, the magic eraser generally behaves well enough that the resulting image is, at least, used for sharing on social media.
The best work is done outdoors and in scenes where landscapes, both natural and urban, are dominant. This shows that AI training was based on eliminating unwanted people, there, the magic eraser generally, never better said, magic.
The magic eraser can suggest touch-ups. In landscapes and with good light, it does a very good job
Outdoors and in dim light, traces of the cloning pad may become very noticeable. Even so, the operation is generally acceptable.
Manual removal. You can see the mark left by the tool, especially because of the stains caused by the clone stamp
In non-landscape scenes, Google Photos has a much harder time filling in the gaps: You notice the cloning buffer patches and you often don’t know how to “make up” the vacuum.
There is a lot of light, but also a lot of things that are difficult to identify. The result of erasing pineapple is not too good
With less light and in photographs where the backgrounds are flat (like paintings), the magic eraser becomes a real mess. It tends to cover the gaps too freely; which ends up blurring the result.
It didn’t seem that difficult to remove the OnePlus Buds from the photo. Corn…
After testing dozens of photos, the truth is, the results looked great. It has flaws, as is evident, also situations where it does not perform too well. Still, the perfect Pixel 6 eraser tends to do very well for photos that most often require an erasure process: unwanted people in the photo. This is where Google usually embroiders it.
