Samsung Gallery Beats Google Photos Every Time: Here’s Why

Having used Pixel devices in the past, Google Photos has always been my preferred choice for photo management. However, since switching to a Samsung device, Samsung Gallery has quietly become my preferred option, and beats Google Photos in several key areas.

1

Superior Photographic Organization and Management

One of the things that first made me admire the Samsung Gallery app was its intuitive and straightforward UI. It’s exactly the kind of user experience you’d expect from a gallery app.

For example, Samsung Gallery allows me to sort albums by name or by the number of media files in them. Also, there is an option to hide albums I don’t want to see and to group albums together – both of which make browsing my collection much more organized.

Then there’s the Samsung Gallery suggestion feature, which I find incredibly useful. It quickly identifies and suggests duplicate and outdated photos, allowing me to delete them with a few taps. This level of efficiency and photo management is something that Google Photos does not offer.

2

OneDrive integration

As someone who already is paying for Microsoft 365I think the integration of Samsung Gallery with OneDrive is incredibly convenient. With the 1TB of OneDrive storage included in my subscription, I can effortlessly back up and store all my photos without having to worry about running out of space.

Backing up my photos on OneDrive also means I can easily access them on my Windows PC without needing to transfer or download them. This seamless integration saves me time and ensures that all my photos are in one place, whether I’m using my phone or computer.

While I could get a similar experience from install Google Drive on my Windows PCI would need to pay for additional storage in Google Photos.

3

Perfect search for both saved and local photos

When it comes to finding specific photos, Google Photos undeniably offers a robust set of tools, such as face recognition, location tagging, and even searching for descriptive phrases like “sunset” or “birthday “. However, there is a major caveat: these functions only work on photos that are saved in the cloud.

So, if I haven’t synced everything, or if I’m deliberately avoiding uploading certain images to save storage or protect my privacy, I can’t use Google Photos’ search tools to find those images.

This is not a problem with Samsung Gallery, since its search functionality is not related to whether a photo is stored locally on my device or saved in the cloud. This means I can effortlessly find what I’m looking for, regardless of where the images are stored. This is a great convenience for me that Google Photos simply does not offer.

As someone who likes to tune my media, I tried both Samsung Gallery and Google Photos to edit photos and video. While both apps offer solid editing tools, Samsung Gallery stands out for its powerful and versatile features.

Samsung Gallery easily removes shadows and reflections from any of my photos. It also offers handy tools to fix red-eye and has “Face Effects” that let me adjust features like smoothness, tone, jawline and more. The Google Photos photo editor lacks these features.

Samsung Gallery video editor also offers a lot of useful options. For example, Samsung Gallery not only allows you to remove sound from a video, but also allows you to add new background music stored on my phone directly in the app. In comparison, Google Photos only lets me mute the video file.

Another feature missing from Google Photos but available in the Samsung Gallery video editor is the option to reduce the size of the video file. This is especially useful when you don’t want to delete a video completely, but also don’t want to take up too much storage space.

5

AI powered photo assistance

In addition to regular photo editing features, Samsung Gallery also offers advanced AI capabilities that Google Photos lacks. One of my favorites is the Generative Edit, which allows me to expand images seamlessly. Whether you want to add more background or extend a landscape, merge the new elements with the original photo effortlessly.

Another fun and creative tool is the sketch-to-image feature, which turns my doodle into a realistic object and seamlessly integrates it into the photo.

The AI-powered Photo Assist feature also allows me to resize, remove and reposition objects in photos. While Google Photos Magic Editor offers this functionality, it frustratingly limits me to just 10 edits per month unless I subscribe to Google One. In contrast, Samsung Gallery offers unlimited editing at no extra cost, making it a much more flexible choice for creative photo and video editing.

6

Option to Copy and Paste and Edit

Another useful feature of Samsung Gallery is the ability to copy and paste edits on multiple images. It’s such a time saver, especially when I’ve made a few adjustments to an image and want to apply the same changes to others.

Here’s how it works: If I’ve made some changes to a photo – whether it’s adjusting the brightness or adding filters – there’s an easy option to copy those edits. I just touched the three point menu in the upper corner and select Copy Edit. Then, I can quickly select other photos that I would like to apply these exact same adjustments to. Once I have selected the image, touch it less than three points again and blame Paste Edits.

Again, this is a feature that Google Photos does not offer. Although this may not be a major problem for many, it is one of those nice features that make Samsung Gallery stand out for me.

7

Copy Images to Clipboard for easy sharing

With Samsung Gallery, I can easily copy images to the clipboard for easy sharing. All I have to do is open the image, touch it three point menuand select Copy to clipboard. So, I can easily paste the image into any app, whether it’s a messaging app or email. What’s even better is that I can still pin that image to mine phone clipboardwhich allows me to access it later without having to dig into my gallery.

This is a feature I use almost every day. Unfortunately, Google Photos doesn’t offer this level of integration, making Samsung Gallery a more practical choice for me on my Galaxy phone.

While Google Photos certainly has its strengths, I’ve found Samsung Gallery’s user-focused approach and handy tools to be perfect for my everyday needs. From the ease of sharing images to the seamless integration with my Galaxy phone, it offers more convenience and flexibility. If you still own a Galaxy phone, try the Samsung Gallery – you might just end up leaving Google Photos!