Google Photos

Google Photos is getting a new feature this month, and though it might seem relatively simple on the surface, it could come in very handy for a lot of different users. This new feature, which flips the switch on optical character recognition, allows users to search their photos by the text that appears in them. So, if you're looking for a photograph of a sign or a business card, you simply need to search for the text that was captured in the image and Google Photos should return what you're looking for in search results.

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Earlier today I happened upon the Android app called Photo Map. This app was developed by Levion Software, and it seems to deliver exactly the service it intended to provide. Much like a similar iPhone/iOS feature that's been in play for several years, this "Photo Map" app creates a lovely spread of photos the user took and uploaded to Google Photos. For that, it's a great piece of work, and the developer deserves their accolades. What I did not expect was that this app would remind me to check my email at exactly the right moment - the moment Google would deliver a foreboding message.

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Your grandpa and grandma were right about keeping all those buffalo nickels in a big glass jar - they were just a few decades too early. Today I'd like to direct your attention to your photo collection. You've taken hundreds or thousands of photos in the last few years, right? Do you know where all those photos ended up? If you wanted to see the first photos you ever captured using a smartphone, could you do it right now?

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Google Drive and Google Photos will soon de-sync photos and videos hosted between the two. Google suggested that "automatic sync" between the two services was just "confusing" for users, so they've decided to "simplify" the experience. Accidental deletions and appearances of counting data twice will soon be out the door - sort of.

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Google has released an update for Google Photos on Android that makes the image app compatible with foldable devices, such as the new Galaxy Fold. That change isn't terribly exciting for consumers, but the second one is: Google Photos now shows indicators on images and videos that haven't been backed up yet, making it easy for users to see what needs uploaded.

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Snapping an image of a receipt or document is the fastest way to make a backup and there are a number of apps dedicated specifically to this task. Though these apps offer advanced features, including automatic edge detection and color correction, they require the user to manually save the final image to their preferred cloud service. Google has just eliminated that hassle with its latest Photos feature.

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Getting stuck doing tech support can be one of the more frustrating parts of being home for the holidays, but getting a parent set up with Google Photos can actually cross someone difficult-to-buy off your gift list. It may be December 24, but if you've still to figure out exactly what to get your mom I doubt you're alone. Thankfully I've got the answer.

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Google is back with another Google Photos change, this one involving the number of images and videos that can be saved in a single private album. Unlike now, users were limited to 10,000 pieces of content in these private albums, which some users complained was too low. Google has doubled that limitation as of today, giving users the option of storing up to 20,000 videos and images in an album.

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Google switched things up back in 2015, offering unlimited free image and video storage on Google Photos at relatively high resolutions, but now the company is back with a small change. Going forward, Google Photos will still offer unlimited free image and video storage...except for video formats that it doesn't support.

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It’s an inescapable fact of modern life that more and more people are using the cloud to both store content as well as share them. The cloud, however, requires an Internet connection by its very nature. The bigger the files, the better the network quality required. Internet quality, however, varies and it can make such cloud-based conveniences actually more inconvenient. That is why in India, Google is trying out a new Google Photos Express backup to take the pain and hassle out of keeping photos in the cloud.

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Google Photos for iOS is now offering control over the amount of background blur in portrait mode photos, letting users tweak the focus after the shot is captured. The new update is rolling out to Google Photos on iPhone and iPad, having already been pushed out to Android users last month.

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Unlike with the previous Nexus generation, Google’s Pixel phones have features you won’t find in other phones, sometimes including its own older Pixel models. Some of those features do require specific and newer hardware, which is understandable. Some, however, don’t and their exclusivity feels more like a marketing strategy than a technical consideration. One such exclusive Pixel 3 feature is Top Shot and, surprisingly enough, it’s actually dead simple to make it available on last year’s Pixel 2.

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