Google+ photos and automatic uploading
I have been playing with Google+ since its debut last week. Its amazing how much folks are discussing a new social network, myself included. There have been many reviews on the web, including my own, but none have mentioned what I think is a very bold photos related feature.
Google+ apps users are automatically having all their photos and videos taken with a mobile phone uploaded. They are private by default but I was amazed to find my phone in full tilt after a bunch of photos taken today July 4th 2011, uploading ALL the photos to Google+.
Google calls it instant upload and that is exactly what is happening. My phone immediately began uploading content to a private Google+ album called Photos from your phone.
You can change the default settings to only upload media when your device is plugged in (which I did) but I was amazed at the fact that they were being uploaded by default.
Its a bold move that just might work as uploading and managing photos is a pain.
I take probably 90% of my photos now on my Android camera which is as good or better than my point and shoot (mainly because I have my phone with me 100% of the time – making it better) and uploading and dealing with the content is not fun.
As far as privacy is concerned I am sure some folks may not be ok with this. As a paying Picasa user this is actually a behavior that I wish I had – automatically uploading to a Picasa album that is non public.
Google+ makes the process of managing photos and uploading them suck less than the other guys. In a world where startups try to court users by creating a process that “sucks less” this is certainly a +1 for google.
Related articles
- Picasa’s storage limits thanks to Google+ (9to5google.com)
