Location Sharing and SMS integration added to Hangouts, and Auto Awesome improvements to Google+ Photos showed off during yesterday's Google+ event.
Recently, +Vic Gundotra invited us all to "a morning with Google+", yesterday we saw what has been keeping Vic up all night in anticipation. He started it off be revealing some usage numbers from Google+: 540 million people active across Google each month, 300 million people active in just the stream and more than 1.5 billion photos uploaded every week!
After amazing us with Google+'s stats, he continued to amaze us with the new updates coming to the social media network.
In addition, finding your photos has been made alot easier. Google+ now recognize over a thousand different objec such as sunsets, beaches and snowmen. Users can just type what you’re looking for, and find matching images in your library.
Snapseed for Android and iOS has been updated with a new HDR Scape filter. While high dynamic range (HDR) imaging requires multiple photos to create its effect, HDR Scape can deliver similar results with a single tap. In additon, a new Shadows slider has been added to improve dark areas.
Finally, Auto Awesome has been given an update yesterday with three new techniques!
Action can capture a series of photos and merge into one photo showing off the action shot of perhaps your friend skateboarding or your child's gym class.
All of yesterday’s photo and video improvements will be available this week. Auto Awesome Movie works on certain devices with Android 4.3+, but all the other app features are widely supported.
Which of the updates are you most excited about?
After amazing us with Google+'s stats, he continued to amaze us with the new updates coming to the social media network.
Hangouts
The headline new feature in Hangouts for Android is support for SMS. Users can now send and receive SMS messages in the Hangouts app. Currently this feature is reserved for Android, we are still unsure if we will see this feature on the web or even in iOS, due to Apple's tight app controls.
Broadcasters can now schedule Hangouts On Air, then promote them with a dedicated watch page. Once you're live, Control Room lets you moderate the conversation with eject and remote mute. In both cases, the video calling experience is significantly improved. It's now full screen across mobile and desktop, and it fixes and enhances webcam lighting automatically.
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| Hangouts with SMS integration |
In addition, Hangouts for Android now supports location sharing. Users can now send a map of your current location, previously users would have to finding and typing an address.
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| Location Sharing on Android |
Both these new features bring Hangouts closer in-line with its competitors such as iMessage and Whats App.
More minor updates include, support for animated GIFs playing inline, which is a feature shared with iOS.
Broadcasters can now schedule Hangouts On Air, then promote them with a dedicated watch page. Once you're live, Control Room lets you moderate the conversation with eject and remote mute. In both cases, the video calling experience is significantly improved. It's now full screen across mobile and desktop, and it fixes and enhances webcam lighting automatically.
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| Schedule a Hangouts on Air |
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| Control Room in Hangouts |
Google+ Photos
Google+ for iOS will soon get an update which will allow for full size backups and background sync. Similar to Android, iOS users can enjoy photo secure with automatic backup.In addition, finding your photos has been made alot easier. Google+ now recognize over a thousand different objec such as sunsets, beaches and snowmen. Users can just type what you’re looking for, and find matching images in your library.
Changes have been made to Auto Enhance features. Users can now dial the enhancements up or down. If you’re already processing your images elsewhere, you can choose to exempt an album entirely.
Snapseed for Android and iOS has been updated with a new HDR Scape filter. While high dynamic range (HDR) imaging requires multiple photos to create its effect, HDR Scape can deliver similar results with a single tap. In additon, a new Shadows slider has been added to improve dark areas.
In addtion, Analog Efex Pro has been added to the Nik Collection. With it you can reimagine your images using classic cameras and processing methods—from toy and medium format to wet plate and vintage. It costs $149.
Action can capture a series of photos and merge into one photo showing off the action shot of perhaps your friend skateboarding or your child's gym class.
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| Auto Awesome Action! |
Eraser will remove objects, such as people or cars, which may have spoiled a shot of a landmark your trying to capture!
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| Auto Awesome Eraser! |
Just as we reported, the Google+ team brought Auto Awesome to video too. Complete with effects, transitions and a soundtrack, your videos will automatically be improved! Check out the example here.
Which of the updates are you most excited about?