Google, as part of its keynote address at Google I/O 2015, today announced Google Photos, its latest effort to help users store and share their photos and videos.
As Google sees it, there should be a central location for people to store their images and clips. What’s more, there ought to be an easy way for managing, searching, and sharing of these files.
Available online (soon) and through mobile apps, the service provides a quicker way for digging through your archive. Employing the simple concept of pinch and pulling, it’s possible to search via days, weeks, months, and even years.
[blockquote author=””]In one tap, get instant adjustments tuned to the photo’s color, lighting, and subject to make each photo look its best. Press the “+” button to create your own collages, animations, movies with soundtracks, and more. If you swipe to the left, you’ll open the Assistant view, where we’ll suggest new things made with your photos and videos, such as a collage or a story based on a recent trip you took. [/blockquote]
Google will automatically keep a collection of your images and put them into albums based on time stamps and locations. Additionally, it can even recognize your most often snapped subjects, putting them but one tap away.
The demonstration we saw today was able to recognize a female face from teen years all the way back to when she was a baby. Somehow, some way, the secret sauce is able to detect changes in people’s faces over time.
One of the coolest, albeit most natural, features demonstrated today was the sharing function. As it stands, it matters not what platform you’re using or what apps you have installed.
Taking it further, it doesn’t matter if your recipients have a particular app on their device. Simply pick the photos you want to share and it creates a URL that opens online for any and all. The shared images can then be downloaded or stored online in the other’s account.
Google Photos will allow for unlimited storage of pictures and videos up to 16-megapixels (pictures) and 1080p HD (video) at no cost.
The Google Photos app is available for mobile devices today and can be considered somewhat of a splintered approach to the photos experience from Google+.
