We’re live at Google I/O 2015 where the new Google Photos app has just been announced. Google has basically taken the Photos experience out of Google+ and moved it to a decoupled app, where we’re given basically all of the same abilities that we’re already used to, with a few handy features and improvements thrown in to the experience.
For starters, Google Photos is being marketed as a backup service with completely “unlimited storage”. Previously, Google+ Photos ate into your Google Drive storage space, and now that’s changed this time around. Photos will have a 16MP cap, and videos can only be uploaded if they’re 1080p or lower. Even though “unlimited” has its drawbacks in this scenario, it should be a welcome change for most users.
Google Photos can recognize and categorize your photos for you, automatically. It will not only be able to identify individual faces, but it can also group together everyday objects like food, landscapes, buildings and basically any other category you can think of. Your photos are separated into three main categories – People, Places and Things. From there, more specific categories are put in place, like individual people, locations and more. The jury is still out as to how well this app will actually be able to categorize photos on its own, though the demo was very promising.
There’s a new feature in Google Photos called “Assistant”, which is very similar to Autoawesome on Google+. It still automatically creates stories for you, but it also allows users to create their own albums, collages (mixes), movies, custom stories and animations. That means you won’t have to wait for Autoawesome to work its magic on its own – you can take matters into your own hands. This new Assistant feature seems easy enough to use, while also giving users plenty of control over their photos.
Of course, Google has made it easy to share photos and videos directly from the app, but now users have the option to share media privately, as well. Simply select the photo or video you want to send, open up the sharing menu, and select the “Get link” option. This will copy the link to your clipboard, and you can do with it what you want.
Users can access photos on the web by heading to photos.google.com, which features a completely revamped user interface, and provides an easy way to manage and edit photos on the desktop. The app will be live in the Play Store beginning today.
You can learn more about Google Photos by heading to the official announcement post. The app itself is expected to arrive later today for Android, iOS, and the web. We’ll be sure to update you as soon as it hits Google Play.