- Google Photos introduced new features for their Pixel devices
- Google adds ‘B&W Portrait’ and ‘Colour Pop’ filters to the app
- Google One members will get additional features
- These features will be available for Google One plans
Google One subscription brings extra storage for Google Drive and other apps. The service, however, has several other benefits. It recently announced a VPN service for plans offering 2TB or more storage. Another addition is made to the Google Photos app. In addition to unlimited photo backup, it is offering a few of its editing features for the paid subscriptions.
Last month Google announced its latest Pixel devices for this year. The Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a 5G came with a redesigned editor in Google Photos. The image editor app features ‘smart suggestions and easy-to-use granular adjustments.’ It also launched a Pixel exclusive tool called Portrait Light.
What’s new in the update?
The Google Photos editor heavily leverages carousels. One of which provides a primary way to switch tools. It is present at the bottom of the app. In its ‘Suggestions’ tab, you’ll find ‘Enhance,’ ‘B&W Portrait,’ and ‘Colour Pop.’ Google plans to bring more functionality to the photo and video editor. But some of these will be locked behind a paywall.
Some users have already begun seeing these locked features behind a Google One membership. With a Google One membership, you get access to additional editing features along with increased storage. However, it is not clear yet which plans will be getting this feature. It is expected that any level of Google One is enough to unlock the full suite of editing features. The cheapest plan costs £1.59.
Google also clarified that the ‘Colour Pop’ filter is currently available on photos taken in portrait mode. This implies that the depth information available is being used to bring the effect. It helps in making the foreground of an image ‘pop.’ According to Google, this ‘Colour Pop’ will be different from the one provided with Google One membership. The latter will be able to process photos without any depth information. It will leverage machine learning to differentiate the foreground from the background automatically.
Future updates
Google will not be putting an existing feature behind Google One paywall, as expected earlier. In fact, Google will try to incentivize users to become Google One members. At present, the paywall for Google Photos is being rolled out to limited users only. The Portrait Light feature of the new Pixel devices has begun rolling out to older Pixel phones. It is a server-side update on Google Photos. The feature has been confirmed to show up on Google Photos v5.15.0.337400196. It will be available on Pixel 2 XL, Pixel 3a, Pixel 4a, and Pixel 4XL models.
