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Gallery vs Photos?

J

JoeHPSDA

Well-Known Member
Can anyone break down the differences between the Gallery app and the Photos app?

I think the Photos app is by Google where as the Gallery app is part of Android?

When I take a photo I get the option to view it either of those two apps - does the standard android camera not have the ability to show photos on its own?

But what is the difference between Photos and Gallery - why do I need two apps?

Also, when I view a photo in Photos, the screen dims about a second after displaying a new photo - whats that all about?

I can see why people prefer iOS with its more well thought out pre-defined configuration!

Thanks.
 
This is probably a question for the device forum. Most phones have a Gallery app, but the actual app varies between devices: the HTC Gallery is not the same as the Samsung Gallery, and neither is the same as the Gallery on a Nexus. In my experience the built-in camera app is usually linked to the Gallery app as well, but I've not used either of the devices you list.

I've never had an app called Photos on any device or in any ROM I've used, which is another reason I think this is a device-specific question (I'm assuming this is something pre-installed, rather than something you installed yourself).
 
Photos is just a direct link to the photos portion of Google+. It can show all the photos on your device, plus all the automatically backed up photos (if you allow that backup to occur), and any photos in your Google+ albums. Gallery on the other hand can only show photos on your device.

I tried using Photos as the default viewer from the camera app, since it seemed to be the "Google way", but I too had the problem with Photos dimming after a second or so, so I defaulted to using Gallery.
 
The difference between Android and Apple is that Android lets you do it your way - there are at least half a dozen apps you can use to view pictures, and you can link any of them to the camera (which takes pictures, it doesn't show them, except as a little thumbnail for the last shot). Apple, OTOH, says "this is what we've decided you're going to use for this function, so get used to it". I spent 40 years asking my clients how they did things, so that I could write software to do it their way. (A lot of them were surprised that my "training course" consisted of "try it". But when their prople tried the program, I'd get comments like "this is exactly the way we do it on paper!") So I can't abide by someone telling me that I have to learn to do it the software's way. I should be able to make he software do it my way. (I use QuickPic to view my pictures - because I like it better than Gallery.) IF you don't like an app in Android, find one you like better. With about 100,000 well-written non-game apps, that shouldn't be too difficult.
 
I used to be all for the 'have it your way' ethos but as I get older, I am leaning towards the more passive approach of just following orders.

I think the apps in the Play store have been the tipping point for me as so many of them seem pointless and really add little to the table, and trying them all out is just so time consuming.

A little more quality control wouldn't hurt. The higher barrier to entry of 'proper' software and hardware in the past, compared to apps at least, made me favour the more open open-source approach, but now I can see why people love macs and apple stuff.

Maybe I am an apple fan at heart and never realised it!

Thanks for the info on the apps, I will take a look at some more, even though that is the last thing I want to do right now!
 
I understand when people don't have the time or desire to ferret out the best solution for their needs - if the stock app fits their needs, they'll look no further. The availability of choice is not necessarily detrimental for these people - it's just unnecessary.

I think the problem (for these people) arise when there is no stock solution, and they're faced with a multitude of choices from third parties, or in the case of this thread, there are two stock apps that can perform the same function (displaying photos taken with the camera) - forcing the use to decide which one to use, and they'll at least be asked to do so again each time either app is updated.
 
JoeHPSDA said:
I used to be all for the 'have it your way' ethos but as I get older, I am leaning towards the more passive approach of just following orders.
Click to expand...
I'm just the opposite. Two years ago, I retired after 40 years of programming things my way. Now I've started using Tasker, because many of the apps in Play and Amazon don't do it exactly the way I want it done.
I think the apps in the Play store have been the tipping point for me as so many of them seem pointless and really add little to the table
Click to expand...
That's why, with over a million apps in Play, there are probably fewer than 100,000 worth looking at in total. (Not for each person - I have no interest in flight log apps or sports apps, but for every ten sports apps, there's maybe one really good one, 5 mediocre ones and 4 junk apps that don't work or aren't worth the free price.)
 
That is too true.

I think the Play app store could be designed a bit better so its easier to sus out an app before downloading it. Every app seems to have a review on the highlighted reviews sections giving it a 1 star review saying it doesn't work, even it all the others say it does!

I think amazon product pages have a good design and allow you to get a sense of whether a product is any good. But at Play you feel like you can't really determine whether an app is worth your time or not.

With the Google Photos app, I am backing my apps up somewhere, but I hope they aren't being shared on my G+ account by default?

I hate all this auto-sharing and uploading, even though it is useful, but when its just one organisation that handles your 'social 'networking', photo backups, documents, etc as Google can do, it gets hard to keep track of everything.
 
I've been using the Google camera app and that is my preference now.

The pictures look OK and it has all the filters and the gallery integration is pretty seamless.

The only downside is the lack of a dedicated video button as there is on the stock camera app. With the Google app you have to switch to video then press record, and then switch back.

Still the best of the bunch so far though.
 
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