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When we think of Google we often think only of their mobile apps for Android and iOS rather than their desktop apps with the exception being Chrome.  The reality is that the Mountain View company makes some pretty desktop apps that, while often utilitarian in nature, do a great job at what they are designed to do.  A good example of this is the Google Photos desktop app.  Designed for Mac and Windows, the app allows you to upload photos from any folder, drive or even a storage card to your Google Photos account.  Moreover, it gives you complete control of the quality of the uploads (High Quality or Original) so you can decide which will work best for you.  Best of all of course is that the Google Photos desktop app is free as we have come to expect from Google.

Google Photos Desktop App – Free – Download Now

Google Docs for Android has received a nice update today that brings with it several new and important features to the document processing app.  The update is version 1.4.412.07.30 for those keeping score at home and brings things like spellcheck and word count to the app amongst other features and improvements.  The update to the app is rolling out to the Google Play Store now so you should see it as an OTA update any time today or over the next couple of days.

If you have been considering moving from Microsoft Office to Google Docs, I posted a 4-part series on my move over.  It’s not for everyone but with improvements like the ones today, the transition is certainly getting more on par from a feature perspective.

My Migration to Google Docs Part 1 – The Setup

My Migration to Google Docs Part 2 – Google Docs on All The Toys

My Migration to Google Docs Part 3 – Between the Google Sheets

My Migration to Google Docs Part 4 – Sliding to Google Slides

HTC this morning launched their next flagship devices, the One A9.  The 5″ Full HD display device is squarely aimed at the mid-market with a comfortable pre-order $399.99 price tag for the 32GB storage model.  Overall it is not a bad specifications on this device and obviously it is important for HTC that the One A9 does well given the lackluster performance of the One M9 last year.

The One A9 sports a fingerprint sensor which is rapidly become a standard issue for any Android device and equally as important, it comes with Android Marshmallow, making it the first non-Nexus device to come with the latest version of Android out-of-the-box.  The One A9 will come in two configurations:  a 2GB RAM/16GB Storage variety and a 3GB RAM/32GB Storage version while it is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 octa-core processor.  As mentioned, it has a 5″ Full HD display covered by Corning Gorilla Glass 4.

Google Photos has become one of the more powerful photo viewing, storing and editing apps available for Android phones and tablets (as well as a really good website).  While there are more powerful editing apps out there, Google Photos will meet the need for the vast majority of users and with the ability to store your photos in your Google Drive, you always have a backup of your photos.

A great feature of Google Photos is the Assistant feature.  This feature automatically creates movies, stories and enhanced photos of those you have uploaded to the service and some of them are really good.  You can chose if you want to keep what the assistant creates or not and it allows you to painlessly add some creativity to your photos.  However, there may be a time where you want to create a movie of your photos yourself.  Google has made it easy to do and in this How To I will show you the steps to take to create a movie in Google Photos.

Google Photos for Android – Free – Download Now