Google Photos

Google Photos was one of the big tentpole features to be highlighted at the company's I/O 2017 keynote last week, and Photo Books were one of the neat new additions to the service. It basically allows users to browse their photo collections and select images to be added to a physical picture album that will be printed and mailed to their door. Now Google has updated their mobile Photos apps, so you can create your photo albums right from an iOS or Android device.

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As they say, sharing is caring. But when you're running a family, sharing is really the only way to stay sane and keep on top of things. In this highly digital and mobile age, family members amass tons of information and are themselves bombarded with data. Corralling all these into one place accessible to each and every member of the family is sometimes more work than it's worth. Thankfully, Google has introduced new sharing features to its apps and services, making YouTube TV, Google Calendar, Google Keep, and Google Photos a family affair as well as a personal one.

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At a Google I/O where the Google Assistant held center stage, it was a service I'm already deeply committed to, Google Photos, which arguably made best mainstream use of the growing AI. Like Google's most successful products, the integration between the Assistant and the cloud photo service ignored technological showboating in favor of just plain useful features that address real sharing hassles users experience every day. Indeed, as nudges to sharing goes, it's hard to see how Google Photos could now make it any easier without bypassing the human user altogether.

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Google's keynote presentation for I/O 2017 has come and gone, and in the span of about two hours, Google covered a lot of stuff. The keynote today included announcements for services like Android, Google Photos, and Google Assistant, but it also had its share of new reveals as well. If you weren't around for the keynote, then have a look at our refresher here for everything you missed.

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Google Photos is about to give you a big nudge in the right direction when it comes to Photo sharing. Google Photos recognizes the faces that appear in the photos we upload automatically. When Google Photos recognizes these faces, in the near future, it'll start to recommend that we send these photos to the people in the photos that it's recognized.

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A couple days back we talked a bit about reports that some Google Home users were seeing some new features turn up, but those new features weren't officially announced. The new features include integration for controlling Netflix and Google Photos using your voice. Google has now made the announcement official that Netflix support is here for Google Home.

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When Amazon Echo first launched, very few knew what to make of the canister smart speaker of the future. Eventually, however, it bloomed and soon became the buzzword of smart home hubs. That same pattern might be repeated with the Google Home, which is only now starting to become rather interesting. Although it hasn’t been officially acknowledged yet, some Google Home owners have reported that they’re starting to see Netflix and Google Photos in a new Videos and Photos section for Google Assistant.

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An update to the Google Photos app collection has suddenly made Google the master at capturing long-lost memories in vintage photos. Google's newest app in this collection of photo-friendly apps is PhotoScan, an app that's set for action on both Android and iOS. This app allows users to "scan" their photos with their smartphone in a way which allows the device's processor to edit out curves, bends, glossy reflections, and other oddities.

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Most people prefer to use their smartphones, even if less capable, over cameras to take pictures because of two reasons primarily. One, smartphones are almost always readily available and always with you. Second is because it’s a lot easier to share them directly off your phone than through a camera. The latest Google Photos update has made that even a lot easier, maybe even lazier. Now you can share with people more directly rather than wasting time trying to juggle sharing with apps.

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Last June, Google introduced the (strangely) iOS-only Motion Stills app that brought some stability to the otherwise mostly shaky Live Photos feature on Apple’s platform. While it did create some fascinating GIFs, it had one major flaw. It was a different, somewhat obscure app that users had to first know about before they could install. Google has now addressed that issue, ironically killing Motion Stills in the process. Yes, Google Photos has been updated to bake that feature into the app itself. Presuming, of course, you also have it installed in the first place.

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Smartphones these days, even the lower spec ones, are capable of taking high resolution (though not always high quality) photos. That means those photos take up more space on the smartphone's storage. And when you have a measly 16 GB of internal memory, with no microSD card option, you will inevitably run out of space. That is precisely the point that Google is trying to make in a rare and admittedly amusing Google Photos video ad. And it is aiming its guns at, what else, the 16 GB iPhone.

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Earlier this month, Google pushed out an update for Google Photos on Android, and now it has followed it up with an update for iOS, taking that app up to version 1.12.1. The update is a relatively small one, though it’ll prove useful for most users: there’s a new cropping tool, which is the big change, as well as some “improved support” for taking photos in a burst. The app is available from the iTunes store now.

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