Oh no.. waking up in the morning and receiving an e-mail update from Google as below:
Now, with >50% of the smart phone users in the world using Android/Google Services, we will be at the mercy of Google. What does the new limitation of Google Photos storage means? It would mean that many (I mean almost everyone) will have no choice but to subscribe to paid plans for extra storage. We take plenty of photos with the promise that Google will keep them for you (if you select high quality) at no cost. But not anymore.. sob sob..
I decided to dig deeper to see how much damage it'll do to our wallet. Here it goes:
1. Share the plan with family or friends (up to 5 person sharing the storage)
2. Subscribe to the storage you need (start with 100GB not 200GB, yes you will say you will run out of storage in a matter of time but paying for unutilized storage is an equal waste of money. You can simply upgrade anytime when it's needed. Google will definitely welcome it).
3. Buy a USB hard drive and copy out all the non-essential data/photos/videos - I might share with you how you can connect your usb harddrive to a router and access it just like Google storage (it won't be as seamless though)
4. No more digital hoarding - the Gen X loved to keep lots of collectables and also includes photos, videos etc.. it's time to do deep spring clean regularly and throw out all those that we don't need. Else you'll be paying precious $$ to keep them.
5. Create a few more Google accounts for various reasons - Google don't stop you from creating additional accounts. I have 1 more account to keep files like training materials in Google Drive (they are counted for the current 15GB limit)
6. Use alternative apps (i.e. Shoebox, Flickr, Amazon Prime if you're in US)
Where do I check my storage status?
You can use the link below to access Google One to see how much space have been utilized. https://one.google.com/storage?utm_source=g1&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=about_view_storage
The food for thought question is IS Google going to go through an exponential gain in Revenue next year? Is it a good time to buy Google stocks right now since it's definitely going to collect more and more revenue as users subscribe (or forced to subscribe) to Google additional storage?
