The Differences between Google Drive and Google Photos
Google, which was originally launched as a basic search engine, has evolved significantly over time. Initially, users only needed to enter their desired search query, and Google would immediately generate relevant results. However, as it evolved, Google introduced a series of additional services designed to enhance the internet browsing experience for its users.
Two Google services that are widely used today are Google Drive and Google Photos. Both platforms offer a lot of features intended to provide users with storage of various types of files, including photos and videos.
In 2019, Google decided to separate Google Drive and Google Photos, which were previously integrated into a single service. However, storage for both services remains synchronized, similar to other service from Google.
That means, any photos uploaded to Google Photos will count towards your Google Drive storage limit, which offers 15GB of free space for each Google account.
Curious about the distinctions between Google Drive and Google Photos? Take a look the following comparison for a deeper understanding.
What are Google Drive and Google Photos?
To understand the difference between Google Drive and Google Photos, it is first important to understand the basic information of each service.
Google Drive is a powerful cloud-based storage and backup solution developed by Google. It integrates with other Google apps and services, allowing for convenient accessibility across multiple devices. However, it should be noted that adding files to Google Drive is manually done by the user.
Google Drive offers a multi-functional storage solution, which allows users to store various file formats, including PDFs, ZIP archives, photos, and videos, within a storage limit of 15 GB. Interestingly, users have the option to upload their files one by one or entire folders.
Google Drive does not provide built-in editing features for photos or videos. However, this application allows you to share files easily, with features to edit files online and offline.
On the other hand, Google Photos is an app developed by Google that is specifically designed to store and organize photos and videos. By utilizing advanced AI technology, the app automatically categorizes and creates albums based on the date of media capture.
Google Photos is optimized to store and display image and video files exclusively, and therefore cannot accommodate other file formats.
After installing Google Photos on your smartphone, the app immediately and automatically displays all the images and videos stored on your device. At first, this feature may resemble the built-in gallery apps found on smartphones, but with Google Photos, file organization is specifically more organized, offering a streamlined and efficient browsing experience.
Since it focuses mainly on photos and videos, Google Photos provides convenient and easy-to-use editing features. In addition, the app offers a video stabilizer feature for improving stability in videos and a file compression feature. The file compression functionality aims to reduce the file size without reducing the quality and clarity of the photos, and ensuring efficient storage usage.
Differences between Google Drive and Google Photos
After discussing an overview of these two services, let's now explore the differences between Google Drive and Google Photos. Here is a comprehensive review of the two services.
1.Different Interfaces
When it comes to Google Drive and Google Photos, one of the most apparent distinctions lies in their interfaces. Google Drive presents users with a file manager-like interface, featuring a display of diverse folders and files on the main screen. To access files and folders, a simple click is required.
In contrast, Google Photos adopts a gallery-style interface. Upon launching the app, users are greeted with a lineup of camera photos on the main screen, providing a visual representation of their images. Additionally, users can navigate to the album section for further organization and management.
2 Google Photos Has AI Technology
Google Photos is equipped with advanced AI technology to improve the organization of photos and videos stored on the platform. By utilizing sophisticated algorithms, this feature intelligently analyzes each photo, grouping them based on various factors such as time, location, and object type.
As a result of this automated process, users will not have to manually enter and categorize photo or video files. The AI system has created albums automatically, ensuring a neat and easy experience.
Google Photos, developed by Google, incorporates facial recognition technology to intelligently categorize individual photos. In addition, this AI-powered system is excellent at grouping photos based on specific locations or places, which makes the organization process even more efficient.
In contrast, Google Drive does not possess the advanced AI capabilities found in Google Photos. As a result, users must manually input files one by one, without the automated assistance provided by AI technology. Similarly, the creation of file folders in Google Drive also requires manual effort, lacking the convenience of automated organization.
3. 15 GB of Free Storage Capacity
As mentioned earlier, Google Photos and Google Drive were originally integrated into one service. However, despite sharing the same infrastructure, the two services offer different cloud storage capacities. Google Drive provides users with 15 GB of storage capacity, while Google Photos offers unlimited storage.
Recently, Google has chosen to separate these two services, which raises questions about their storage systems. It should be noted that Google Drive and Google Photos now share the same cloud storage container, which offers users a total of 15 GB of free storage.
This storage capacity is integrated with other Google services, including Gmail. For Google Photos users who need additional storage, Google offers paid storage options to get more space.
4. Sharing files effortlessly with Google Drive
Both Google Drive and Google Photos, as apps or storage services, offer convenient file sharing capabilities. While this feature may seem simple, it is essential for professionals and workers.
Google Drive excels in facilitating file sharing across multiple devices. The integration and connectivity of this app/service with various Google services and other platforms makes file sharing easier. As a result, files stored in Google Drive can be smoothly shared to other apps or services.
An important feature of Google Drive is its ability to share a single file or an entire folder with multiple recipients simultaneously. This eliminates the need to transfer files one by one, making the sharing process easier.
In addition, Google Drive is more than just file sharing as it enables users and allow others to edit certain files. Instead of sending files back and forth, users can give others permission to edit certain documents. Files can be edited online within the Google Drive service directly without intervention of another app.
Google Photos provides a different experience compared to Google Drive. It allows users to share photos or videos individually, similar to general file sharing. This is due to the fact that the service isn't linked to other Google services or applications.
Google Photos comes equipped with user-friendly image editing tools. These features enable users to conveniently crop images, implement filters, and adjust aspects like brightness and shadows, thereby enhancing the overall visual appeal of their photos.
Conclusion
Google Drive and Google Photos are two different storage services provided by Google. While both platforms offer storage capabilities, they differ in terms of file compatibility.
Google Drive is designed to accommodate a wide range of file types, while Google Photos exclusively focuses on storing photos, videos, and GIF files.
While Google Photos has a narrower scope, it makes up for it with an impressive interface and a variety of editing features. The user-friendly interface improves the overall user experience, making it easy to navigate and manage multimedia content.
Google Photos incorporates artificial intelligence (AI) technology that intelligently categorizes and organizes photos and videos automatically, reducing the manual effort required.
In addition, Google Drive provides the extra benefit of integration with other Google services, such as WhatsApp. You can easily store files or back up important data on this service.
However, it should be noted that Google's free cloud storage capacity is limited to 15 GB. This means that users who store a lot of photos online may need to consider paying additional fees to expand their storage capacity.
In conclusion, this is a discussion from the Carisinyal team highlighting the differences between Google Drive and Google Photos. Which one of them do you prefer? Please share your thought.