Picasa Hub + Backup Preview\Beta Testing

[BottlecapDave]

Hello everyone,

Over the past three months I've been developing a new Picasa application built for Windows Phone 8.1. The project started due to a friend moving over from Android where he used Picasa to backup/manage his photos. He wanted an application that took advantage of the new Photo hub integration, which I found as an interesting project. I've detailed some of the features that have followed in a few posts on my blog, but to sum up:

• OAuth authentication - no typing in username/password for an account that's linked to so many services
• Photo Hub Integration - See your photos within the native Photo hub application
• Share Picker - Share photos from photo hub or any application that supports new sharing mechanism to your Picasa account
• Automatic backups of Camera Roll, with ability to define size and target album
• View and comment on any of your pictures
• Plot photo locations (where available) in native mapping application.

The application is now nearing a state at which I feel it is ready to be released to the public, but want a bit more interaction with a wider set of phones (currently only tested on Nokia Lumia 920 and HTC 8S). So i'm looking to the passionate WPCentral community for previewing/beta testing the application and providing primarily bug reports, but feedback/suggestions are welcome!

If this sounds interesting to you, you can contact me at apps [@] davidskendall [.] co [.] uk with the subject "Picasa Hub + Backup Beta Submission". Please supply, as standard, your microsoft account address that you use with the phone you wish to install the application to.

Thanks for taking the time to at least read this post and I look forward to hearing from you.

Dave

 

[BottlecapDave]

A new beta/preview build has been uploaded and everyone who contacted me by 10:00 GMT today should have gotten an email and access to the application. Depending on what gets raised from the testers, there may be another build so please keep your requests coming.

Thanks,
Dave

 

[chandramuralis]

A new beta/preview build has been uploaded and everyone who contacted me by 10:00 GMT today should have gotten an email and access to the application. Depending on what gets raised from the testers, there may be another build so please keep your requests coming.

Thanks,
Dave

I got a chance to play with this app this morning and I'm very impressed..... great work,very well implemented and very good start. Still lots of features to implement.
My first feature request would be editing the photos...

 

[BottlecapDave]

Thank you for the kind words. Confirmation that the app is heading in the right direction. If you have more feature requests, please don't hesitate to email me or specify them here. I obviously can't guarantee them for the first release, but will consider them for future releases.

I would also like to thank all the other beta testers who have sent me feedback\bug reports. I've been working on the ones I feel need to be addressed for the first release this week and I'm taking the others on board.

I will be releasing a new build by the beginning of next week, which includes a restructured landing page for the application, which will hopefully guide new users in how the app is to be used. Sneak peek below



If anyone would like to be added for the next build, send me an email as soon as possible to be in for a chance.

Thanks again.

Dave

 

[BottlecapDave]

Hello everyone,

I'm please to say that the new build of Picasa Hub + Backup has been released to all current beta testers, along with anyone who emailed before Sunday 21st July.

The new build includes some bug fixes and enhancements based on feedback by the current beta testers (like sharing multiple photos at once). The application also has the new introduction screen that was previewed in the screenshot in the previous post.

Thank you to everyone that has helped out so far.

Dave

 

[Chris_Kez]

Sounds promising; good luck!

 

[BottlecapDave]

In the words of Professor Farnsworth from Futurama - "Good News Everyone!"

Picasa Hub + Backup has now been released to the public, and can be downloaded via the windows phone store (apparently my post count isn't big enough to post a link to it in the store, so please search for "picasa hub + backup" and it will be the only app available)

A big THANK YOU to all beta testers and sorry to everyone who wanted to be apart of it - their feedback was valuable. Also big thank you to WPCentral for providing this forum for finding beta testers.

So please go download the app, tell your friends and enjoy Picasa

Dave