For the discussion post this week, I will be reviewing the Google Photos App. Let me first start by saying that all my “devices” are Apple products and I love them dearly. I have the stance that while I love the wide variety of options that Android products provide, I do not believe that they are fully developed and thus, lead to issues earlier than I would prefer. In today’s busy world, I simply want to turn my phone on and have it work exactly how I expect it to. No flash, no fluff. With that being said, one thing that seems to be a recurring issue is storage on Apple devices. As camera’s continue to advance along with the internal hardware, storage is a hot commodity. Apple does not allow for external storage upgrades so whatever size you bought at the time of purchase is what you must work with. For an everyday user that does not understand the concept of cloud-based storage, they often find themselves going back through old memories and deleting videos and photos to make room for the new game that their child will play for the 5 minutes they are sitting in the waiting area. This is where Google Photos truly takes the cake.
The Google Photos app is paired with the camera roll on the iPhone, automatically syncing all the photos that were taken with the device. Once the device is connected to Wi-Fi, the app will begin the backup of the photos, essentially creating copy of the photo that can be access with any network connected device. Below is a screenshot of the app showing the options of the backup along with the “free up space” button.
After the backup is completed and the app has created a copy of the photos and videos, it is now stored in a “safe” location at an exponentially smaller storage size. One downside to using this method for keeping photos is when you are on-the-go in an area with poor cell phone reception. In this scenario, you will be able to see the thumbnail of the photo with a small cloud in the bottom right, but when you click on it to show someone, the photo won’t load. While this is an inconvenience, it is rare that I run into this issue as cell signal is prevalent in a large amount of places worldwide. A recommendation I would make is for the app to at least allow the user to view the photo or video at a reduced resolution.
Another benefit to the app as seen below is the option to upgrade the amount of storage that you want to use. As the main photographer for my family, I like to take videos and pictures of my families adventures and that can sometimes result in large file sizes.
Another suggestion I would make is to do promotional events that would reduce the cost of the storage (i.e. throw in a free year of 2tb storage for with the purchase of a Google home). The third recommendation would be for Google to also delete “portrait” photos on the iPhone as that seems to be a hang up in the system. While the app does backup the portrait pictures, it does not delete them from the device, thus continuing to take up storage.
Todd
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