Yahoo released a major update to its Flickr apps on mobile and desktop platforms, and the web service. The update, released on Thursday, completely overhauled Flickr's user interface, which helps users better organize their photos and share images and videos. Updated apps for Android, iOS, Mac, and Windows are currently available.
Yahoo says that Flickr's major UI design revamp lets users maximize the 1TB free storage available to them, according to NDTV Gadgets.
"At Flickr, we've dreamed of creating a space where you can store and manage a lifetime's worth of memories – imagine having half a million photos in one place! We've redesigned Flickr and now you can easily and effectively upload, view, organize, edit and share your lifetime of photos and videos across desktop and mobile. Today, we're introducing a number of exciting tools, as well as a complete refresh to our mobile apps, that will help you take advantage of the 1,000 GB of free space we gave you in 2013," Head of Engineering Tim A. Miller said on the company blog post.
Flickr has a number of new features as well. Camera Roll allows users to scroll through several images and videos in a timeline view, which is also powered by the advanced image recognition technology. Features such as sharing to other social media sites like Facebook and Instagram, and downloading content in zip-files, have been made much easier.
Another is the Magic View feature, which automatically organizes the images under more than 60 categories such as portraits, landscapes, etc. The Swipe Selection functionality allows users to easily package and share albums with large and small images.
The new Unified Search will let users search for images using common phrases. Users can also perform searches based on places, holidays, dates, and even depth of field. Windows and Mac have the Uploadr feature, while mobile devices have the Auto-Uploadr. Features of the new Uploadrs include: batch uploading and batch deleting, all files uploaded initially being marked as private, and duplicates are deleted automatically.
Flickr now features an updated suite of editing tools and filters. The app now has the capability to remember the edit settings of an image, and will feature white balance, Photoshop-style edits, and exposure controls.
Flickr's upgrades are the first big release since CEO Marissa Mayer shuffled Yahoo's leadership team, which installed new Flickr head Jeff Bonforte, according to TechCrunch. Bonforte was the CEO of email startup Xobni, which Yahoo acquired a couple of years ago.
