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Google Photos finally lets you add photos and videos to an album before they're done uploading
For the impatient among us
Even though Google Photos storage won't be free anymore going forward, the service is still among the best options when you want an almost automatically organized personal media library. But Photos falls short when you do want to do some organization on the go, before uploading your files — you used to only be able to add photos and videos to albums when they were uploaded. Thankfully, that has changed. You can now add content to albums even when you're offline.
YouTube Music received quite a few improvements during 2019, but it may not have been obvious since many of updates have been fairly subtle or only relevant to small audiences. Let's be honest, most of it is easy to ignore when some big features are still missing. Regardless, the service and app maturing, and that will be important when Google Play Music eventually fades into the aether and YouTube Music is all that remains. With the latest update, preparations are being made to improve the Library tab so it's easier to use and doesn't get in the way of playing music the way you want.
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Photos is one of Google's best products. It gives you a searchable, unlimited vault of all of your shots and memories. The company is constantly working on making editing and finding images in it more effortless, and the latest updates further improve these aspects. You can export frames from videos shot on the Pixel 4 as stills starting with version 4.28 of the app, and individual sorting options for albums are currently rolling out to some people.
Google Photos is fairly fresh off of its Material Theme update, but the latest version doesn't appear to have any significant changes on the surface to add to the new look. But that's not where the interesting things are on this update, we're looking into the APK to find details of what is coming in the future. The big addition will be an enhanced album that uses facial recognition to fill itself with pictures of your family and friends. Photos will also begin directing people to install a RAW editor if they're taking photos in that mode.
Free music seems to be making a comeback on Google Play Music. Once a relic of the past, free albums made a reappearance last week with Ariana Grande's "My Everything" and an ICON album featuring The Beach Boys. Four more ICON albums with Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Kenny Rogers, and KISS can now be picked up for $0.00 from Play Music as well.
If you're big into vinyl (records), then you probably recognize the name Discogs. If you aren't, it's a music marketplace for cataloging your collection and buying new albums. And, today, Discogs has released a beta that allows you to make purchases from inside the Android app itself.
Telegram continues, as usual, to get better and better. The latest version, 4.5, adds a few new, interesting features. From grouping multiple photos into albums to an improved search implementation, Telegram 4.5 is a relatively large update.
There are a ton of people, even non-techies, who use Google Photos. After all, why wouldn't you? It's free with unlimited storage, allows you to access your photos from any device with the Internet, backs files up automatically, and is just an awesome tool in general. Photos' latest tweak for the web allows users to see which albums a particular photos belongs to.
Looks like Instagram is testing the ability to add multiple photos to a single post in the latest Android beta build. This feature will allow you to create an album in your timeline, something that could prove pretty handy if the service is your photo-sharing spot of choice.
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As a music lover, one of the first apps I looked for on Android way, way back in 2012 was a cataloging solution for my different albums and a way to browse artist releases à la IMDB. I quickly stumbled on the Discogs website, but for a long while, I couldn't find a decent app for the service on Android. The situation has changed a lot recently with several apps providing access to Discogs and working well enough to make the need for an official app less urgent.
You don't have to subscribe to a music streaming service to get a steady stream of songs spread across an eclectic mix of genres. Just wait around for Google to hand out free albums. With the regularly occurring Playlist: The Very Best Of... series, you have your pick of hits spread all throughout the decades.
It's time to take a step back in time and enjoy some of the tunes gifted to future generations from the 20th century. Google's offering three jazz albums for free in the US. One, entitled Playlist: The Very Best Of Billie Holiday, contains fifteen tracks (though it somehow lacks Strange Fruit edit: see this enlightening comment for an explanation). Playlist: The Very Best Of Miles Davis provides ten tracks from, you guessed it, Miles Davis.
It may not make headlines alongside photo services like Flickr and Picasa, but HP's photo-centric service allows users to store and share photos, create greeting cards, scrapbooks, blankets and a host of other physical products. Now, HP has released an app that allows users to access and share their photos while away from the desktop.