Google I/O 2015: Google Photos, optimized for organization, viewing, and sharing with unlimited storage

One of my favorite things out of Google I/O is the new Google Photos app for iOS, Android, and your web browser. Google brings its search technology to photo organization and helps take away some frustrations with digital photos.

By Matthew Miller, Contributor on May 29, 2015

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Setting up Google Photos on an iPhone

Google released the new Google Photos app for iOS and Android, along with an update to Google+ Photos on the web.

If you have been as frustrated as me with trying to manage your photos through albums, events, and a timeline, then you will appreciate what Google has done with Photos.

Google I/O

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Select faster with Google Photos

Selecting photos to share or organize is made quicker through the new touch and hold functionality in Google Photos.

Google I/O

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Swipe to navigate in Google Photos

Some of the Google Material Design elements appear in Photos, including the ability to swipe between the different ways of viewing your photos.

Google I/O

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Google search technology applied to pictures

Google has taken its advanced search technology and makes finding photos quick and easy. Google automatically organizes your photos in a number of helpful ways.

Google I/O

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Google Photos settings

You can control a few settings in Google Photos. The grouping of faces works well and is one of those features I think people will greatly appreciate since most photos include people.

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Backup and sync

You can upload all of your photos with no storage limitation. This option limits you to 16 megapixel shots, which is likely just fine for most people. You can also upload original resolution photos, but these will count against your particular storage capacity.

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Welcome to the Photos Assistant

Google's new Photos Assistant will automatically suggest creations that it makes from your photos. Like Google Now cards, you can simply swipe the suggestion card away or choose to accept the suggestion and then share it with family and friends.

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Photos timeline

The default Photos view shows your photos and videos organized by date.

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iOS 8 Photos years comparison

To compare the iOS 8 Photos app to the new Google Photos app here you can see organization by years.

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iOS 8 collections view

And in this view on an iPhone 6 Plus, you can see how iOS 8 organizes by collections. That's as far as iOS 8 goes though so then you are back to organizing by albums and searching just by file names.

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Google Photos things view

I am loving the way that Google Photos organizes your photos by things. As you can see in this screenshot, things can include bridges, sunsets, boats, cats, dogs, activities, and more.

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Google Photos people view

Your Google Photos can also be viewed by people and places. Tapping on a face will show you all photos with that person in the photo. Google Photos does a great job of showing the people as well.

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Google Photos search by dogs

Searching with the term dogs returns all the photos in my history that show my dogs. It was fun to revisit 2012 when we first received our pomeranian.

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Google Photos by events

Google also organizes your photos by events, as shown here with an event from 2011.

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Google Photos search by sunset

I experience some great sunsets off my deck in WA State so it was cool to see how Google Photos brings them all together on one page.

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Left menu of Google Photos

Swiping to the left brings you to a menu where you can jump to areas of Google Photos or view the settings.

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Stories in Google Photos

Google creates stories automatically, but with the Google Photos app on your phone you can now create albums, movies, stories, animations, and collages yourself.

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