Google Photos App: “Say Cheese!”
There was so much news buzzing around at the Google 1/O 2015, that the company didn’t really have the time to flush out key announcements like the Google Photos service.But from what has been collected, the photo hosting service is packed to impress with its unlimited free storage to high quality photos and HD videos.
Although Google Photos is awesome and makes your picture library really stand out, it’s not something entirely new.
Even though the service was tightly tied to Google+ previously, you still could have tons of fun with quick photo editing using Snapseed’s powerful tools, auto-upload, ‘auto-awesome’ and photo filters, which many Google+ fans will recognize. To see what’s new and how to make the most of Google Photos App, let’s take a quick tour of the features that make photo management easier than ever.
Upload photos and videos from all your devices absolutely free with Google Photos App
Everyone cheered when Google announced its free storage feature. A word of caution though – if you opt for Google’s ‘unlimited’ free storage, you can only upload photos up to 16 megapixels or 1080p HD video. Any photo or video which has a higher resolution than that will be downgraded to fit. This option is in the settings section of Google Photos and this setting applies across all your devices where the app is installed.
The ‘unlimited’ option
This option seems good for most people unless of course your phone has a really high-resolution camera and if you are a stickler for quality. Since most of us view photos in web browsers or on our mobile screens, it won’t make much of a difference to the quality anyway. But if you’re one of those who does not prefer trimming of shots, the ‘unlimited’ might just not be for the likes of you.
One click backup
One of the things which really impresses is the ability to store everything automatically. Yes, it definitely sweetens the pot. If you’ve got a whole lot of photos scattered across your devices, you can have them on your computer (or backed up offline) with a single click at the Google Takeout. Seriously, it downloads them all effortlessly and without a worry of losing anything ever.
The ‘Collections’
This brand new feature of the Google photos automatically arranges your photos either by date or by location, and we couldn’t have asked for more. It bundles up photos and creates a collage of them which you can easily tweak with additional details. Where geo-tagging your photos are concerned, your photos are automatically tagged with their location now. If you’d like to turn it off, it’s a simple toggle in your settings. Now this is a huge improvement to the way the feature functioned before.
Heavy lifting is not heavy anymore
In case you wish to take matters into your own hands, it’s not tough anymore. You can create your own albums, generate your own stories and also structure your own collage. Adding notes, selecting music, sharing with friends is not tedious at all. In fact, it is surprisingly easy.
The all new smart search bar
Probably the most impressive update is the big new search bar right at the top of Google Photos. Remember a memorable moment captured but cannot locate it? Type in just about anything you can remember of it and Google will find it for you. It is incredibly powerful to be able to do this and is a boon. Well, it could also mean that if you typed ‘people’, additional photo options which may not be perfectly matched to your search appear, such as art or even a bowl of salad (which could be embarrassing), but you do get what you are searching for – that’s a surety. Also, another very neat feature which the search bar is hiding is a quick link for each photo. It’s a definite winner and should be tried.
Seamless sharing of Google Photos
Sharing your photos is way different and better than it used to be. You now have the option to share direct links to your photo, share it on Facebook or Google+ or Twitter and all these links can be tracked from the sidebar too. It is indeed a nice touch to be able to see which photos are out there visible to other people.
Keval Padia is the founder & CEO of Nimblechapps, a fast-growing mobile app development company. The current innovation and updates of the field lures him to express his views and thoughts on certain topics.