(Pocket-lint) - GoPro has officially unveiled a new Hero, and it's called the Hero 9 Black. While it borrows the Hero 8's revamped design from 2019, the internals and its capabilities have improved.
Starting with the most obvious change: Hero 9 Black has a colour screen on the front for the first time. It's a 1.4-inch display which can be used to see a live preview or view shooting status. In previous years, this display was smaller and only monochrome, used to display basic status information.
The touchscreen on the back is improved too. GoPro has equipped it with a larger 2.27-inch touch-sensitive panel with touch-zoom capabilities, allowing you to digitally zoom really easily.
Of course, it wouldn't be a new GoPro without more advanced photography and videography tools. It's got a new 20-megapixel sensor, and that's now utilised to give you up to 5K resolution video.
At its highest sharpness, it can capture video up to 30 frames per second but is still able to shoot 4K video at 60 frames per second. Or, if you want slow motion, you can shoot at 240 frames per second at 1080p resolution.
There's a bigger battery too, with GoPro claiming you'll get up to 30 per cent more battery life. That's enough to make a difference, but not quite enough difference to dissuade users from buying a spare.
HyperSmooth - the advanced algorithm-based stabilisation system - has now ramped up its capabilities, ensuring even smoother footage and automatic in-camera horizon levelling.
TimeWarp, the smooth hyperlapse feature is also being improved and not features real speed and slowed down half-speed options. There's HDR Night lapse video too, for more dramatic and improved timelapses in really low light situations.
If you snap on the new $99 Max Lens Mod - essentially a stabilised additional lens - you get even smoother HyperSmooth video, plus an even wider Max SuperView camera focal length. You can also enable a horizon lock feature which keeps the horizon in position even when you rotate the camera 360-degrees. That enables some pretty cool effects in video.
GoPro Hero 9 Black is available to buy today. GoPro Hero 9 Black is available to buy today. In the US, it'll set you back $449.99, or if you take a 12 month GoPro subscription, you can buy the camera for $100 less: $349.98. Hero 8 Black and Hero 7 Black remain on sale at $349 and $249 respectively. In the UK, pricing is set at £429.99, or £329.98 if you have a GoPro subscription.
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