Google introduced "Google Photos" today at their I/O Developer Conference. Google Photos is a new service and "a home for all your photos and videos, available from any device." It will be available to iOS users as well – which is going to put pressure on Apple to match this offer. The app will be available for download later today.

Google billed it as "a lifetime of photos and videos" spanning years. The software looked very reminiscent of Apple's own "Photos" apps and service. The software can automatically organize pictures, including grouping pictures of a person over time, relieving users of the need to "tag" pictures.

The service will let users generate a URL to send to friends that lets them view all photos and videos online without having a special app, says Google.

The company said it will give free unlimited photo storage with images stored in their original resolution up to 16 megapixels, and videos stored in 1080p Hi-Def resolution. 

Update May 29:

Now for the fine print: According to USA TODAY, Google's unlimited storage comes with a price: images that are "slightly" compressed, but still at high resolution. Google says you won't notice the difference.

Real world test: a file that was originally 6.8 MB got compressed down to just under 1 megabyte in the app, while another original was at 10.8 MB and downgraded to 2.8 MB.

USA TODAY's Jefferson Graham decided to see what he lost by uploading both to online print site Shutterfly, which usually tells you that your image doesn't have enough pixels if you try to order a big print. However, it said the resolution to both uploads was good enough for prints up to 20x30 in size.

So no resolution issues here.

Beyond the albums, Google offers several auto tools that are fun.

• Google makes automatic collages from similar photo clusters.

• Animated GIFs and movies are created by similar pictures shot in a row--little clips that string a bunch of your pictures together.
• Editing tools (lighten, darken, "pop") enhance the image, similar to Instagram filters.

Google's mission is to organize the world's information. Now, it moves on to taming our photo collections.

For the price of free, Google Photos is a great deal, and worth checking out. Check out the full USA TODAY article here

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