Google promises unlimited storage as it breaks Photos free of Google+

28 May 2015

Google has launched Google Photos with unlimited storage

Google revealed at its I/O event what many of us had already suspected – it has long had an ace up its sleeve in terms of photos. The search giant has unveiled Google Photos, which users can use to back up hi-res photos and videos — for free — with unlimited storage.

The new service will let users save photos taken of up to 16MP, as well as 1080p videos.

From today the service will be available on Android, iOS and the web.

Google predicts that this year alone people around the world will take at least a trillion photos.

“Photos and videos become littered across mobile devices, old computers, hard drives and online services, which are constantly running out of space,” explained Anil Sabharwal, head of Google Photos.

“It’s almost impossible to find that one photo right at the moment you need it, and sharing a bunch of photos at once is frustrating, often requiring special apps and logins.

“We wanted to do better. So today we’re introducing Google Photos — a new, standalone product that gives you a home for all your photos and videos, helps you organise and bring your moments to life, and lets you share and save what matters.”

Sharing is caring

google-photos

Google Photos works across all devices and platforms including iOS and Android

The competitive implications of the new service for platforms from Instagram to Flickr and even Dropbox are obvious.

“With Google Photos, you have the choice to share your photos and videos however you want across any service you choose, from Hangouts to Twitter to WhatsApp,” Sabharwal said.

“But even then, it’s still remarkably difficult to share a lot of photos just with friends and family and keep the ones shared with you—it usually involves a lot of downloading and re-uploading across a number of different services. We wanted to make sharing much simpler and more reliable.

“You can now take any set of photos and videos, or any album, and simply create a link to share hundreds of photos at once. The recipient can see what you shared without a special app or login, then immediately save the high-quality images to their own library with a single tap. So now it’s easier to hang on to the photos you care about even if you weren’t the one holding the camera.”

Smartphone image via Shutterstock

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com