Unlimited Storage with Google Photos

Unlimited Storage with Google Photos

Do you store your photos and video files online? Do you use Dropbox, iCloud or Google Drive?

Google have just announced they are offering unlimited online storage, for free.

It’s called Google Photos.

What is Google Photos?

Google Photos is a new product released by Google that combines online storage and a mobile/web browser for viewing and searching. It works on iOS, Android and on the web and can automatically upload pictures and videos taken on a phone.

Many of the features are already part of Google Plus, such as image editing, photo filters, auto upload and “auto-awesome” which creates short videos from multiple images. This is all now available through Google Photos without the need of having Google Plus.

The unlimited feature allows images up to 16megapixel and videos up to 1080p (full HD) to be uploaded for free. Higher than this and it will be downsized. If you want to keep the original it will be taken out of your Google Drive allowance (usually 15GB unless you’ve upgraded) which also includes Gmail and Google Apps.

There are three main views: Photos, Assistant (used for creating stories and collages) and Collections (where albums, movies and stories are kept).

Google Photos Search Bar

The search function of Google Photos is very much like Google Image search, except it is searching your photos. Searching for keywords will show everything from people, to food, to places to objects. There is also access to browse your creations, videos, Google Drive and recently added items.

Google Photos also can search your library to find People (by using facial recognition), Places (by using location data) and Things (by searching images for objects).

Sharing photos simply requires selecting the images to share and clicking “Get Shareable Link”. There is no need to create an album just for sharing, Google will create the page and you can simply share the link.

What are the Alternatives to Google Photos?

There are many online storage providers offering free and paid subscriptions for storing data.

Apple iCloud works well with iPhones and iPads and offer 5GB for free. It can categorise by location, albums, videos, panoramas and created albums.

Yahoo have Flickr which offers full resolution images with up to 1TB of storage for free. Their recently improved app now has image recognition however renaming image names will help a lot with searches.

Others include Microsoft OneDrive which has 15GB of online storage for free, and Dropbox which has free online storage starting at 2GB.

Will You Start Using Google Photos?

If you are looking for a free solution to store your images and video then Google Photos is a must. The auto upload feature will come in handy and the powerful search function will help you find those long lost images.

Also, if you find you want to download all of your uploaded pictures and videos then you can use Google Takeout. Google Takeout can package up all of your photos and videos into a zip file which you can then download.

Have you tried out Google Photos already? Please leave your comments and let us know your thoughts.