Google Photos is getting some new machine learning-based editing tools that were exclusive to Pixel phones until now – but to get them you’ll have to pay for Google One, the company’s subscription product that offers enhanced storage for all of its services.
Intelligent editing – The tools include Portrait Light, Portrait Blur and Color Pop. These were technically is already available to all Google Photos users, even for free, but the difference is that Pixel owners could apply the filters to photos that don’t provide depth data – so, for example, you could add a bokeh blur to the background of a photo that even made with an older camera without native support for it. Now all paying Google One subscribers can also access this functionality.
Google Photos is considered one of the best all-in-one photo storage and editing apps. The company has worked hard over the years to develop its machine learning capabilities to take the best photos with smartphone cameras that may not use the latest and greatest sensors. It has also won over a lot of consumers for providing unlimited storage of lightly compressed images for free for years … although that will be phasing out later this year.
Google is also introducing new filters today, including a ‘sky suggestions’ option that can tweak skylines and create more dramatic effects. It creates kind of an unnatural look, but you might like that.
Free no more – The announcements come as Google plans to phase out free unlimited storage in Google Photos starting June 1. Currently, storage of “original quality” photos is limited, but users can store unlimited higher resolution photos. Soon that will change to a hard limit of 15 GB for all photos, regardless of quality.
The most affordable Google One plan starts at $ 1.99 per month and provides 100 GB of storage for the company’s myriad services, from Photos to Drive and Gmail. Higher versions include more storage, such as 200 GB for $ 2.99 per month, and extras like access to Google’s VPN in the $ 9.99 per month plan.
Unsurprisingly, Google would eventually rule in free storage, though some have disapproved of the move as a bait to let people back up their photo libraries before being forced to pay. The company is at least trying to soften the deal somewhat with new premium features.