With 2020 a few hours away, Google is taking the initiative to remind you of some of your favourite moments of 2019.
Similar to the Top Nine posts shared by millions on Instagram – which lets you share a three-by-three grid of your most-liked photos and videos of the last twelve months, Google has rounded-up your best images into a “Best Moments Of 2019 phonebook. Notifications are popping up for Android users, telling them the book is ready to view.
Google already leverages its clever Google Assistant AI to suggest potential edits, photo albums, collages as well as GIF-style animations of similar shots in its hugely-popular Google Photos app. However, this is something a little different – as this time, Google will create a physical book for you.
Once generated within the Google Photos app, you’ll receive a notification to your smartphone or tablet prompting you to “View Your New Photo Book” which promises to help you “relive the best moments” of the last twelve months. This year, 2019, marks the second year that Google has generated a collection like this for its users.
The Mountain View-based search company will pick-out approximately 60 images from the last year to showcase some of your highlights from the year. The photo book, which is brand “Best Of 2019” within the app, is arranged chronologically and should be up-to-date enough to include a few choice shots from your Christmas holidays over the last few days.
Of course, you don’t have to take the book as is. Google lets you reorder pages, delete photos in bulk, change the design style of each page – and even add more photos that you think the clever AI has missed-out from its selections.
The idea behind this “Best Of 2019” book is that you can order it to be printed direct from your Google Photo app. As such, the app also contains options to edit the spine of the book as well as the title page and more – so the final product is exactly as you imagined. If anything, the collection foraged from the last year by Google’s AI is just a good way to get you started.
You can order multiple sizes of the photo book. Google will save the finished product, so you can order multiple copies down the road for any family members who are jealous of your shiny new coffee book with a retrospective of the last year. Prices for the 18 x 18 cm soft-cover book start from £11.99 for 20 pages, £0.49 per additional page, up to 100 pages.
Meanwhile, the larger 23 x 23 cm hard-cover book costs £22.99 for 20 pages, with a £0.69 charge for any additional pages, up to 100 pages. According to Google, all photo books are printed using premium materials that are responsibly sourced. Get started today from your phone, tablet, or computer.
If you haven’t received a notification from Google Photos yet, it’s worth launching the app’s navigation drawer and tapping on the Print Store option. Your retrospective on the last twelve months should then appear as the first item in the list marked “Photo Books Made For You”. The Best of 2019 alerts started a staggered roll-out earlier this month, so you should have received yours by now – if not, the collection should be ready and waiting for you within the app.
Unlike the Instagram option, which is hugely popular but only selects photos based on the number of likes they’ve received from your followers, Google Photos typically has a larger selection of images to choose from and should be able to put something together that’s a little more personal.