I was prepping to move over to Google products for the past three years until the release of Gemini. 🧨
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Google Pixel 8's Flagship AI Photo Editing Feature Coming to iPhones
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Not too interested in faking the photos, but image correction tools are nice to have.
The iOS Photos app is so bad that I continue to use Google Photos for any album sharing with friends/family.
Maybe Apple will turn around their Photos app, similar to what they accomplished with Maps, but so far I don't see any sign of iOs Photos being a contender anytime soon
The iOS Photos app is so bad that I continue to use Google Photos for any album sharing with friends/family.
Maybe Apple will turn around their Photos app, similar to what they accomplished with Maps, but so far I don't see any sign of iOs Photos being a contender anytime soon
AI? I would never use AI, I would rather spend hours fumbling around in Photoshop instead of letting an AI do the job for me in seconds, like the good lord and Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen intended! 😤
🤡
The tribalism in some of these comments is fascinating.
Collectively these are all features I'd love to have on my iPhone, and I think in terms of editing they are way more promising than anything Apple has given me recently (with the possible exception of better portrait photos on my 15 Pro).
I'm not likely to switch to Google Photos because of that, or even pay for a premium subscription I don't otherwise need, but I'm still happy that my iPhone has more features if I want them and I sincerely hope that more competition will push Apple to offer better features as well.
Collectively these are all features I'd love to have on my iPhone, and I think in terms of editing they are way more promising than anything Apple has given me recently (with the possible exception of better portrait photos on my 15 Pro).
I'm not likely to switch to Google Photos because of that, or even pay for a premium subscription I don't otherwise need, but I'm still happy that my iPhone has more features if I want them and I sincerely hope that more competition will push Apple to offer better features as well.
Luckily the iOS camera app already turns your photos into fake AI crap.
Wouldn't a mirrorless camera actually add to processing? The mirror let's you see through the viewfinder an entirely analog view of what you are presenting to your camera's sensor, so when you see the photo once it's taken, you can compare it to what you were seeing in the real world. With mirrorless, you can't do this, you have a digital viewfinder that shows you what the processed photo from your sensor is "seeing," with no way to compare it to what you are seeing through the lens without processing, which is why I don't want one as my DSLR.
No thanks. Guess I'll be removing Google Photofaker from my phone now.
Retouches, small edits, color correction, image stacking... those are all fine. When you start replacing things or adding things that were never there, it's no longer a photograph.
Retouches, small edits, color correction, image stacking... those are all fine. When you start replacing things or adding things that were never there, it's no longer a photograph.
Oh man you want to try the Pixel phones.
Look at this ****!
I was there man. Right there.
And I didn't have my oil paints with me that time.
I tried an iOS app that promised amazing AI enhancements to my images last week. A 1GB effort that was temporarily free (I know) and the selected images I tried it on all looked absolutely dreadful after. Took me less than 10mins to decide to delete it.
I was kind of relieved, if it has been good that perhaps could have been a real threat to photographers, hobbiests and professionals alike.
The whole AI bandwagon is extremely tired already.
I was kind of relieved, if it has been good that perhaps could have been a real threat to photographers, hobbiests and professionals alike.
The whole AI bandwagon is extremely tired already.
I would wager Google’s hardware sales are a drop in the bucket compared to their services and ad revenue streams. The Pixel line is a bit like Microsoft’s Surface line, it’s meant to set the standards for what flagship hardware on their respective platforms should be like (and in Google’s case to shame other OEMs into offering regular, consistent, and reasonably timely OS updates). It’s sort of the opposite of Apple, who gets most of their revenue from hardware; Apple’s ecosystem is a value-add and lock-in to their hardware, hence why only a small number of their software and service offerings are available on other platforms.
There are lots of iPhone users who happily use Google’s products and services, or other third party solutions like Spotify. This is especially true for those who use iPhones and Windows PCs and want cross-platform or platform-agnostic services they can use anywhere, so there’s definitely a market for iPhone users to subscribe to Google One.
There are a number of reasons why this is the case. But the first thing that comes to mind when discussing it in terms of this photo application is “No talent necessary.”
I wouldn't call Googles mediocre, but Samsung's is better, and that's on a 2 year old phone (S22U) without all the new AI tricks.
In the same way that a digital photo can be edited on a computer, the old photos based on film could also be edited in a darkroom.
However, there is something sacred about a photo. You are capturing the essence of a moment in time. Sure, to make up for manifestly inadequate optics and sensors, mobile phone makers, including Apple, process the heck out of digital photos. That means my iPhone shots of the Scottish coast wind up looking like the Caribbean:
However, it is one thing trying to make up for the optics/sensor of a camera, which is fine, but quite another just making pictures up via generative AI. No thanks.
No way will Apple allow google to offer something like this and they don’t. Something has to be coming in iOS 18… Google trying to get a 6 month head start and convert some users.
Google's generative editing is just moving a person into frame or getting rid of some powerlines. Its basically Photoshop at the speed of thought.
Their actual generative imaging is pretty lousy. On my old Pixel 8 Pro you could feed an image into one of 4 different styles to create a wallpaper or pick from some pre-defined text inputs but change the colours. It wasn't much to write home about.
Bullseye
People saying "Well I'm not going to use that" every time some new feature some certain new features come out is the bane of comment sections everywhere
Why would I let Google have access to all of my photos for free? The greatest trick the devil ever pulled on the world was convincing them to willingly grant access to every single moment of their lives, every letter they ever write, every thing they ever read, hear or see, in perpetuity for any purpose.
No thanks.
No thanks.
Turn on Incognito mode so you won’t notice them doing it.
I'd reckon that most people take a picture to capture a memory, not some mystical "essence of a moment in time." There's nothing metaphysical about this and, in any case, I haven't seen any capabilities here that you wouldn't also be able to achieve with Photoshop. The only difference being that apparently this is only permitted if you're a 'creative professional' and have put in the time, sweat and tears to learn the software.
Take the thing where a user can combine multiple pictures so everyone smiles, has their eyes open and whatever else. Does it really matter in 5 or 10 years that this is a combination of 5 moments in time that happened within 5 seconds of each other? Does that really present a false memory? Not really.
Judging from the large number of negative responses here, looks like Apple can sell a lot of phone by marketing a "no AI" phone.