Google Photos gets new premium features on Android, enhanced video editor

The Photos ecosystem is one of Google‘s oldest projects and it doesn’t look like it will be going away like so many of the company’s other failed programs (the most recent one being Google Stadia). Even if you’re not using Google Photos, there’s a high chance that you’ve heard of the app regardless of whether you own an Android smartphone or an iPhone.Today, Google announced that it’s rolling out a new set of premium features to Photos users on Android. On top of that, the Mountain View giant revealed that a new video editor will be available for both Android and iOS users.The updated Google Photos video editor comes with new features such as the abilities to crop, change perspective, add filters, apply granular edits (i.e. brightness, contrast, saturation, and warmth), which have been added on top of those already existent: trimming, stabilizing and the ability to rotate videos.

According to Google, there are at least 30 controls available in the new video editor. All these new video editing features are already available in Google Photos on iOS and will be deployed to most Android users in the coming weeks. Also, the redesigned editor will be made available to iOS users in the coming months.

But wait, there’s more! Google announced that it will bring some of the editing feature currently available on Pixel phones to Google One members. Features like Portrait Blur, Portrait Light will be available to Google One members starting today. Also, the updated Google Photos app will allow Google One members to apply effects like Blur and Color Pop to even more photos of people, including those that lack depth info.

Moreover, Google One members will gain access to more new machine learning-powered effects, such as Dynamic and Sky suggestions. Those who’d like to take advantage of the new features must pay for a Google One membership, which starts at $1.99 per month for 100GB of storage. Obviously, these editing features will remain free to Pixel users.