Google Photos Worth a Look

Recently I was giving a workshop to a group of middle school science students.  We were discussing magnetism and radio waves.  When we got around to how radio and smartphones are related I asked how many in the group had a smartphone.  Immediately most hands shot up.  I then asked about the most important task for which they used the smartphone.  I was not ready for the answer.  I thought it might be texting or listening to music; everyone knows these kids don’t make phone calls.  Taking pictures was top on the list of smartphone tasks.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised as more people are taking more pictures than ever before. With quality and ease built into even the most basic mobile device, snapping that cute kid next door or that menacing cloud formation on the horizon is (pardon the pun) a snap.  I am sure that we have all watched while a friend scrolls though hundreds or even thousands of shots stored on his iPhone looking for that cat dressed up like a dog.

For most of us these pictures get stored on our phone or iPad and perhaps in some cloud only to be forgotten either by the sheer volume or the lack of organization.  That is where the new Google Photos App hopes to establish a new market.  This mostly free service is platform agnostic running on Android, Apple IOS and even your Widows computer.   Like many services, it provides free cloud based storage for all your photos.

Once your photos are stored in the cloud you can take advantage of two cool features that set Google Photos apart for most others. The first is a neat search tool. Without having to manually tag people or locations in your photos, you can search your collection for “skyline” or “cars” or “Ohio” or “river.” You can search for “specific color” and the app will bring up all photos with that dominant color.  Search can group photos using face recognition even if the photos are of that person at various ages.

The other innovative feature, the “Assistant” tab, compiles animated GIFs and collages automatically from photos it senses are related—either from a trip, a group of people, or a string of images captured in a row.

For those who have used other Google photo apps you will find the editing and sharing tools with some new upgrades.  Google Photos is not perfect but it is easy to use, mostly free and might put some organization into that digital shoebox posing as a smartphone in your pocket or purse.  More information at http://www.google.com/photos/about/