Google Releases New Experimental Photography Apps For Android, iOS Devices

Google has released three new experimental photography apps for Android and iOS devices. The new apps are part of Google’s new “appsperiments” program to further push the capabilities of smartphone cameras blending software and hardware.

“Each of the world's approximately two billion smartphone owners is carrying a camera capable of capturing photos and video of a tonal richness and quality unimaginable even five years ago,” Google said on its blog.

“Until recently, those cameras behaved mostly as optical sensors, capturing light and operating on the resulting image's pixels. The next generation of cameras, however, will have the capability to blend hardware and computer vision algorithms that operate as well on an image's semantic content, enabling radically new creative mobile photo and video applications.”

Storyboard (Android)

Google’s Storyboard camera app allows users to transform their captured videos into single-page comic layouts. All a user has to do is shoot a video clip and open it in the Storyboard app. The app will be able to automatically select specific video frames and turn it into a single page comic.

Google says Storyboard features six different visual styles that are automatically added to the comic layout. Users will be able to get a new comic layout by pulling down on the screen. When users are happy with the result, they will be able to save the comic to their gallery.

Download Storyboard here!

Selfissimo! (Android & iOS)

Google’s Selfissimo! app is an automated selfie photographer that captures photos in black and white. The app is able to take photos by itself each time the user poses.

To start using the Selfissimo!, users will just have to tap to start a photoshoot session. The app will encourage the user to pose and it will start taking photos automatically when it detects that the user has stopped moving.

To stop the photoshoot, users will simply have to tap the screen once. Users will then be able to review the resulting contact sheet to save individual images. Users will also be able to save all of the photos taken by the app.

Download Selfissimo! for Android and iOS.

Scrubbies (iOS)

Google’s Scrubbies app lets users manipulate the speed and direction of video playback to create looping videos. Users will have to take a video using the Scrubbies app and they will be able to start remixing it afterwards.

Users will be able to manipulate the video playback like a DJ. Scrubbing a video clip with one finger plays the video, while scrubbing it with two fingers captures and saves it.

Scrubbies is very similar to Instagram’s Boomerang app. The major difference here is that Scrubbies allows users to actually edit the video clips themselves, including changing the speed of the video playback.

Download Scrubbies here!

These Are Experimental

All three apps are experimental and Google encourages users to send feedback. The company says that user feedbacks and ideas will serve as a guide to what other technologies Google will develop in the future. It's very likely that Google will be releasing more experimental apps moving forward, as pointed out by The Verge.