Google has one upped every other cloud storage service on the planet with its new Google Photos service. While it looks like just another cloud storage solution for photos, Google is drawing attention to it by offering unlimited free storage. Unlimited. Free. Storage.
The functions of Google Photos is not anything particularly outstanding. It provides a cloud storage service for photos, along with features for managing those photos. Google Photos uses Google’s search algorithms and functions to make it easier for users to organise their collections and find that one particular picture from a decade ago.
Google’s search algorithm crawls all uploaded pictures allowing users to do text searches for their photos. The onstage demonstration showed how pictures from baseball games and snowstorms can be found by just typing it into the search bar. It looks like the contextual answers from Google’s Knowledge Graph is being applied to Google Photos, especially since the owner of the photos does not need to tag any names or provide any descriptions. Despite this, Google says that the search algorithm is completely private and only available to the owner of the photos.
The system is also capable of automatically grouping photos according to categories using the same algorithm, and the idea behind it is that it makes it easier for users to sort their collections.
The big deal about Google Photos is the ability to store photos of up to 16MP and videos in full 1080p resolution. It is also completely free, with no limits on how many photos can be stored on the service. Google Photos is already available for use, with the Android and iOS apps appearing in the respective stores soon.
