Internet giant Amazon announced on Thursday, Nov. 1, the launch of a new Android app called Amazon Cloud Drive Photos.
As the name suggests, the new app for Android allows users to securely store photos taken with their Android device in the Amazon Cloud. Users get an initial pool of 5GB of storage for free, after which they will have to pay for additional storage. Prices for extra storage start at $10 per year for another 20GB.
Amazon Cloud Drive Photos aims to facilitate uploading photos to the cloud. To save images directly to the Amazon Cloud, simply press and hold on a photo album on the Android device, then select "Upload to Cloud Drive."
The respective photos will then be available for access on the user's Kindle Fire, Android phone or tablet, or with any Web browser. Photos are displayed either in a vertical grid view or in a horizontal mosaic layout, optimized for the screen size of the Android device. Users can also select photos from their Cloud Drive and share them through social networks such as Facebook, through e-mail, or other apps.
"Customers rely on their mobile devices more and more to capture the memories that matter to them," explained Russell Dicker, Amazon's director of Cloud Drive. "They are taking photos at birthday parties, soccer games, and kids' recitals every day on their Android phones and tablets. The Cloud Drive Photos for Android app makes it simple to save these memories into Cloud Drive and have them automatically available on your Kindle Fire or Android Phone or Tablet."
Overall, Amazon's offering seems like a good solution to have pictures safely stored in the cloud and save some local memory on the Android device. Cloud storage is becoming increasingly more popular particularly because it allows users to securely store content somewhere other than on the actual device.
According to Amazon, the app is already integrated into its new Kindle Fire HD tablet. For other Android-based devices, users can download Cloud Drive Photos for Android either from the Amazon Appstore or the Google Play store. The application is free and has a four out of five stars rating.
