Google just released a new app dubbed PhotoScan. The app, available on iOS and Android, makes it easy to scan and preserve old family photos bringing them into the digital world. The app, demoed to the press on Tuesday, improves on the flatbed scanner and is a lot cheaper, too.
The app asks the user to scan the border of the picture to align the photo.
A scan button will activate the phone’s flash to capture a high-quality version of the photo. White circles appear on all four corners of the image which then prompts the user to move the phone to the dots and wait until the dots turn blue.
The dots create separate photos which are pieced together to create the final image.
Numerous photos are taken when hovering over each dot to remove light glare from photos. The demonstration resulted in an old photo quickly digitized without light glare or other imperfections.
Users can remove the background surface from the image and crop the image, too.
The app will process the final image before allowing users to save the image to their phone. Images can be uploaded to Google Photos for storage.
Photos inside of albums and picture frames can be scanned using the app, too. Thicker, old photos can be scanned, too, and turned into a digital version. The app outperforms a phone’s camera when trying to capture old images, and the images are crisper.
The white border seen on polaroid pictures is removed.
Colors are richer and blurs are corrected via PhotoScan. The developers behind the app are working on additional enhancements to the app. Developers are working on a way to correct and enhance the color in the photos to make them more accurate.
Google Photos also received an update, with new editing tools and filters added on Tuesday, too. Many of Google+’s photo editing tools and features were incorporated into the Google Photos update.
