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Just WHAT is the point of photo stream?

Y

yalag

Suspended
Original poster
Nov 18, 2007
1,448
81
Ok so I got all this icloud stuff setup and started using my 4S for a few days. The contacts/cal sync stuff is cool but what is the point of photo stream??

Why do I need it to show up in my computer right away when I get home? For what? So I can see my pictures 10 seconds faster than plugging the phone onto the dock? What?

I thought photo stream is going to be something that other people can see. But it's not. What is it actually used for??
 
Y

yalag

Suspended
Original poster
Nov 18, 2007
1,448
81
Rubo Draco said:
If you lose your device, your pictures will remain on you PC.
Click to expand...

Even that is not entirely true. I have to get home and connect to my wifi for my photos to backup. In which case, my auto icloud backup already backed it up.
 
K

kevroc

macrumors 6502
Oct 15, 2011
467
126
yalag said:
Ok so I got all this icloud stuff setup and started using my 4S for a few days. The contacts/cal sync stuff is cool but what is the point of photo stream??

Why do I need it to show up in my computer right away when I get home? For what? So I can see my pictures 10 seconds faster than plugging the phone onto the dock? What?

I thought photo stream is going to be something that other people can see. But it's not. What is it actually used for??
Click to expand...

IMHO it's so that 1) you don't have to dock. That's so last year. 2) you don't have to think about it. You take a picture, it shows up in your stream. From there you can pick out what you want to save and where. Think of it literally like a stream of photo's you take, no more uploading, no more waiting. It's just there. Pretty hard to beat.

The old way; dock the phone, copy the photo's over, wait for the copy to finish, filter through them and see which ones you want to save, blah blah blah. Such an inefficient process. :)
 
R

Rubo Draco

macrumors regular
Sep 21, 2011
151
1
yalag said:
Even that is not entirely true. I have to get home and connect to my wifi for my photos to backup. In which case, my auto icloud backup already backed it up.
Click to expand...

doesn't it work over 3G? (I'm not being sarcastic)
 
Drag'nGT

Drag'nGT

macrumors 68000
Sep 20, 2008
1,781
80
If you only have one computer then you won't quite understand it. If you have an iPhone, iPod Touch, Apple TV/Mac Mini (HTPC), MacBook and an iMac and you want things in sync then you'll see why it's nice.

Photos from the iPhone are on my Mini without me syncing them. Also, I only sync with my desktop and not my Mini. Additionally they are on my iPad to view as well.
 
G

gentlefury

macrumors 68030
Jul 21, 2011
2,889
67
Los Angeles, CA
Dewaine said:
Yes it works on 3G... to the OP, it you don't get it then cool. But I do get it, and think its fantastic. The only problem I have with it is the PITA it is to delete a photo....
Click to expand...

No, it doesn't work on 3G....you can't delete images from Photostream because they will automatically be deleted in 30 days. You can delete them from your computer tho.
 
V

vrDrew

macrumors 65816
Jan 31, 2010
1,376
13,412
Midlife, Midwest
Photo Stream is kind of cool. I wouldn't say its a definite "game changer" - but it certainly can be a lot of fun.

Say, for instance, that I go out an take a bunch of photos with my iPhone. Once I get home, if I fire up my AppleTV, I can *instantly* review all the pictures I've just taken on my big screen TV, without going through the steps necessary to manually upload/download them. Or, if I upload a bunch of pictures I've taken with my DSLR to my iPad, they are also instantly accessible to all my other iOS devices - including my two year old iPod Touch.

Once they are on Photo Stream, they also upload automatically to my pictures folder on my PC. So I don't even need to sync my iPhone, iPad, etc. to get a copy of those pictures on the computer so I can start editing and printing them.
 
BJMRamage

BJMRamage

macrumors 68030
Oct 2, 2007
2,752
1,285
My wife and I share the same Apple ID for downloading Apps/Music.

I've been thinking it may be best to have separate iCloud accounts so we each get 5GB.

BUT, can I set up the iMac to download/import from TWO Photostreams?

That would be ideal, just ilk syncing to TWO phones.

Thanks all.
 
pdqgp

pdqgp

macrumors 68020
Mar 23, 2010
2,131
5,460
I don't see it yet either

I'll admit I don't see it or really what it's about either. We have two iPhones and multiple Windows based computers and have yet to see a value in photo stream. I don't want every photo my wife or I take to be shared on every device. I'd rather have the option of picking which ones and then also be able to delete something that is no longer desired.

Ultimately, I thought it would be nice if I could shoot pics and have them available on iCloud when I log into my Windows PC so I can then edit them. Instead I've been using a handy wireless transfer app that's been getting me what I want, just not seamlessly.

If I'm missing something, just let me know.
 
b166er

b166er

macrumors 68020
Apr 17, 2010
2,062
18
Philly
photo stream is great for people like me who don't like to dock with the computer.

yes it does work over 3G- I really doubt I'm that special.

And it also works both ways- you can go into iPhoto to a picture you took 5 years ago and "send it to photo stream" and then it's on your phone/iPad/whatever. This worked out nice for me the other day because I like to "edit" photos on my phone and iPad with some of the apps I have and this was a very easy way to get older photos onto my phone.

It's seamless and it requires you to do NOTHING. How can you find a way to complain about it? Plus if you don't like it you can turn it off.
 
R

rwwest7

macrumors regular
Sep 24, 2011
134
0
My wife and kids take photos on their devices and I can almost instantly view them on mine from miles away......pretty cool!
 
V

vrDrew

macrumors 65816
Jan 31, 2010
1,376
13,412
Midlife, Midwest
If you have a PC then you do need to download and install a special "iCloud Control Panel" that sets up various programs and directories on your computer to send and receive iCloud data. This is a requirement that doesn't seem to have been very well documented during the iOS 5 installation process.

Another neat thing about Photo Stream (as mentioned above) is that it works equally well in both directions.

For instance, if you have a series of photos that you want to get onto your iPad (a slide show of old photographs you've assembled from totally non-iOS sources, for instance) you simply put them into the "Uploads" folder and - viola - they are on your iPad, iPhone, etc.
 
boltjames

boltjames

macrumors 601
May 2, 2010
4,876
2,852
rwwest7 said:
My wife and kids take photos on their devices and I can almost instantly view them on mine from miles away......pretty cool!
Click to expand...

Exactly. Sound familiar?

iCloud is trying to kill Google.

Photostream is trying to kill Facebook.

That's all any of this (admittedly great) new Apple stuff is.

BJ
 
B

Branskins

macrumors 65816
Dec 8, 2008
1,235
180
Take photo on my iPhone 4, then show them to people on my iPad. Simple and no effort on my part to show them the picture on a bigger screen.

Also, going to my Mac and seeing them just there is kind of magical :p
 
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