If you ask me, Google Photos is the best software in Mountain View after GML. It offers useful organization and editing features that are much easier and more efficient than other applications. But according to a report XDA, Which has been dug into the code of the latest update of the application, Google is planning to put some of its best features behind the pay-back – i.e., Google One subscription.
XDAThe report shows that Photos v5.18 contains four strings of code pointing to change:
- “As a Google One member, you get access to additional editing features.”
- “Get extraditing features with Google One membership”
- “Unlock this feature and more with Google One membership”
- “Unlock more editing features and {storage_mount storage with Google One subscription”
So it is clear that some degree of Pavol is coming. In fact, the company has gotten started.
Shortly after the above report, an XDA reader noticed that Google has started rolling out its ‘Color Popup’ feature behind Google One Pave All:
Shortly after we published this article, a reader informed us that the color pop feature of Google Photos is behind Google One PayPal. I reached out to Google for confirmation but haven’t heard back yet. https://t.co/99dsMWcKe1 pic.twitter.com/NOWepbpXkH
– Mishal Rahman (@ Mishal Rahman) November 6, 2020
However, in a statement Edge, Google said the feature only pays for photos that have no internal information:
In Google Photos, Color PAP is a feature that is available for anyone to use for free, in-depth informational photos (such as portrait mode). As part of an ongoing rollout earlier this year, Google One members could also apply the feature to more photos of people, including those without depth information.
In other words, it looks like Google is not launching this feature, but will make it available to more photos with this update – you just have to pay for it.
Google’s image processing AI is a state of the art, and that’s a big part of why the company can offer one of the best portrait mode features on a smartphone camera without the need for detailed information from the hardware itself.
The color pop feature needs similar depth information, so it is usually available on photos taken in portrait mode. Looks like subscribers will be able to use Google’s AI to create those depth maps and instead enable the feature to work on any old regular portrait.
I have two minds about this. As long as Google continues to offer new features for everyday users, I don’t particularly mind a ‘premium’ company. After all, I pay for a monthly Adobe subscription for Lightroom, but I often use Google Photos in my day-to-day photography.
Still, Google will have to make these payload features particularly attractive – color pap will definitely not be able to cut it – so I’m looking forward to seeing what the company comes up with in the future. Focusing more on professional users can make those photos more useful, if the app wants to outperform the competition for stronger image-editing apps.
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November 7, 2020 – 02:20 UTC Published
