In a shift toward broader cloud storage, Google has released new software that lets you store an unlimited amount of photos and videos in your Google account. This change will help users avoid the storage limitations of Google Drive without deleting hundreds or thousands of photos to do so.
Meet Google Photos
Google Photos syncs across your devices so your photos are accessible on your computer, phone and tablet. All of the photos can be edited right in the application and Google also tags the photos without any work on your part.
By typing in “dogs” into the search function, Google will bring up every photo you have taken with a dog; early reports suggest that the results are fairly accurate.
Free Unlimited Storage – Sort Of
There are plenty of online storage options for photos, but Google has differentiated itself by offering unlimited storage for free, whereas most comparable options require a monthly subscription.
On the downside, the photos and videos uploaded are actually slightly compressed copies of the original files. This compression probably won’t make much of a difference to most users, but larger high-definition files will likely lose some quality.
Another caveat here is that Google will be using your photos to get a more comprehensive picture of the user in order to display more focused ads. This tactic doesn’t diminish the quality of any Google services, but some privacy-minded users may be wary.
