Google Photos News and Updates

[Siva]

Google I/O 2015 is well on its way, and we’ve already gotten a quick overview of everything Google announced during its keynote. Among the many announcements including Android M, Project Brillo, Google Now on Tap, Android Nanodegree and many others, we’ve also taken a first look at Google’s new photo backup service. Now available for free in the Google Play Store, the new Google Photos app aims to be an all-in-one media backup application, so you can access all of your pictures and videos from wherever you are in the world. Since this new app is kind of a big deal, we thought we’d walk you through the setup process to ensure your experience is hassle-free!

Since the new Google Photos app is just an update to the old Photos application (the one that was attached to Google+), you can grab the new version by simply updating your old Photos app. Once the app has been updated, it’s pretty easy to set up.

Upon opening Photos for the first time, you’ll be asked if you’d like to backup your photos and videos. For all of you folks worried about other people seeing your photos, don’t worry – Google Photos is now completely decoupled from Google+, so there’s no need to worry about other people seeing your private pictures.

Once you choose to backup your photos and videos (or not), you can choose a couple different upload options. The new Google Photos offers completely unlimited content backup, so you can upload as many images and videos as you’d like without it counting against your Google Drive storage space, like it did with the old app. However, there are a few caveats when it comes to the term ‘unlimited’. Photos have a cap of 16MP, and videos have a maximum resolution of 1080p, so keep that in mind before you take advantage of Google’s unlimited backup option.

By far the most important feature in Google Photos is that the app will automatically organize your photos for you. The app can recognize faces, pets, landscapes, locations and more, and will group together like photos for your convenience. After all of your photos are uploaded to the service, the app will pretty much have all of your content organized automatically.

Clicking the ‘search’ floating action button at the bottom will give you quick access to all of your categories. Take a look at the screenshots below. As you can see, Photos automatically separated my media into categories. But don’t get me wrong, Photos isn’t perfect. If you see an image that is filed incorrectly, you can easily move it to another category.

Moving on, there’s a new feature in the app called ‘Assistant’, which is basically just like a rebranded Autoawesome. It can still create stories for you, but now you can take matters into your own hands and create albums, collages (mixes), movies, custom stories and animations. Now you don’t have to wait for the app to automatically generate them for you, which will likely be a welcome change for most users.

With the new photos app, you can also easily share photos and videos privately. Once you select a picture, click the Get link button in the sharing menu, and the link will automatically copy to your clipboard. I’ve been waiting for this feature for quite some time, and I’m sure many other users will be happy to use it as well.

So, there you have it – a first look at the new Google Photos app! It’s now live in the Play Store, and you can also access all of your photos on the desktop by heading to photos.google.com. Let us know how you like the new service!

http://www.androidauthority.com/google-photos-app-quick-look-612322/

 

[Siva]

Finally, the photos app you've been waiting for.

You can have your Android M, your Brillo, your Cardboard and any of the other products announced at Google's I/O developer conference yesterday.

I just need Google Photos, a product I've been waiting for to create order out of my sprawling photo library. I have used Picasa for years to share photos with family, but it wasn't a great fit for backing up photos as I began to use my iPhone more and my dSLR less. And I didn't like Google+ trying to overthrow Picasa as my go-to online photo repository. But all is forgiven with the launch of Google Photos, which is frighteningly effective.

Google Photos works across a number of platforms: Android, iOS and on the Web. Like the Google Drive or Google+ apps before it, you can set the Google Photos mobile app up to backup the photos and videos you take on your phone. And like Drive and G+, Google Photos provides free unlimited storage when you opt for the High quality setting, which means full-res photos up to an ample 16-megapixel limit and HD videos up to 1080p. If you are dead set against any sort of compression, then you can choose Original, which saves full-resolution files that will count against your Google storage plan.

I have been using the Google Photos iOS app and the Web app and finally feel like I have a handle on my photo library, mostly because I'm terrible about organizing my photos and Google Photos does the heavy lifting for me. When I signed into my Google account, my old albums from Picasa were there along with all of the photos from my iPhone because I use the auto backup feature on the Google Drive app. Now, I can turn that off in Google Drive and use the Back up & sync setting in Google Photos.

On both the Web and iOS apps, Google Photos has three main views: Assistant, Photos and Collections. You can use the menu button in the upper-left corner to navigate between these three views or you can just swipe sideways to go from one to the other.

On the iOS app, you can pinch to zoom on the Photos view to drill down from year to month to day. There are basic edit tools, including an Auto adjust option and filters.

The Assistant view, according to Google, is where it will "suggest new things made with your photos and videos, such as a collage or a story based on a recent trip you took. After previewing the creation, you can choose to keep, edit, or discard it." The Assistant has yet to assist me, only telling me that I'm all caught up and to go take some pictures. I'm sure as I use the app more, my Assistant will hop to it.

Collections view contains your albums, movies and stories. Stories are albums that feature both photos and videos, and Google will take the initiative and create some stories for you. You can also create your own projects in one of five ways: Album, Movie, Story, Animation and Collage.

What I like most about Google Photos, other than it being its own app and not wedged into Drive or Google+ is its impressive search functionality which, given the developer, should come as no surprise. It also includes frighteningly accurate facial recognition software, which traced each of my kids back to baby photos when they looked more like generic babies than actual individuals.

In addition to People, Google Photos also lets you search your photo by Places and Things. Places uses location data to group photos so you can see photos of a trip you made without needing to first creating an album. More impressive is the Things category which lets you search for photo of forests, food, stadiums, dancing and much more.

Sharing is impressively easy with Google Photos too.

To share a group of photos does not require you first to create an album. You simply need to select a group of photos and ask for a link. (And, selecting photos does not require incessant tapping; instead you can tap and hold and then drag to select a block of photos.)

On the Web app, click the share button at the top when you have a group of photo selected and click Get sharable link. On the iOS app, select your photos, tap the share button and then tap Copy Link to Clipboard. You will then be able to paste the link into an email, and your recipient will not need any special app or login to view your photos.

http://www.cnet.com/how-to/getting-started-with-google-photos/

 

[Siva]

I have started using this app and it's just amazing. The collages, animations and videos it automatically create are awesome. I was able to upload around 15000 pictures and videos in a day. The 16MP and 1080p limit for unlimited storage is more than enough for most users I guess. Google has definitely done this right.

 

[mmadhankumar]

Don’t be surprised if your Android smartphone continues to upload your photos to Google without your knowledge, even if you have uninstalled the Photos app.

David A. Arnott of Upstart Business journal found out that Google Photos app showed all his personal photos synced to his web account even after uninstalling it.

On reaching out to Google, the Search giant said, “The backup was as intended” and users will have to turn off the feature in phone’s Google Play Services settings. The phone’s settings are interconnected with the Play store.

So, those users looking to avoid personal photos on your phone being automatcaly stores on the web need to change those settings.

It was just recently that Google announced its revamped Photos app, which was so far integrated within Google+, with some interesting features at the Google I/O 2015 developers conference on May 28. The show-stopping feature being the ability to support unlimited photos and video storage.


Google Photos may be uploading your photos even after the app is uninstalled - Tech2

 

[Rahulan Raj]

Breach of privacy !

 

[sam]

 

[Anup Tiwari]

Very bad news bro. Thanks bro. But everybody takes personly pictures

 

[wewake]

those who asked Pictures from Sat Hunters by Pm and download it in cell phone... be beware from next time

 

[sam]

those who asked Pictures from Sat Hunters by Pm and download it in cell phone... be beware from next time

:lol :d :rofl

 

[Siva]

The new Google Photos application was first unveiled at Google I/O 2015 as the company’s main photo service going forward. Now that it’s been around for a couple of months, Google is preparing to say goodbye to its previous photo backup service, Google+ Photos. On Saturday, August 1st, Google+ Photos will be shut down on Android and soon thereafter on the web and iOS.

Google recommends you begin the switch sooner rather than later, as it will be much easier to switch over to the newer service when both are still live. You should have seen a prompt in Google+ Photos to download the newer app from the Play Store. If you choose not to switch over for some reason, all of your photos and videos can be accessed on photos.google.com or for export via Google Takeout.

If you have yet to make the switch, we’d recommend doing so soon. Although the newer service comes with some caveats and suffers from a handful of embarrassing tagging issues, it’s still a much more refined, personal photo backup service that offers up a few notable features that most other services can’t provide. We went hands-on with the new service at Google I/O, showing off some of the application’s biggest and best features.

If you still need to switch, check out our video walkthrough attached above, and make sure to download the new application from the Play Store

http://www.androidauthority.com/google-photos-shutting-down-august-1st-new-google-photos-app-627056/