With the latest Fast Ring Build 15951, Microsoft updated the Windows Photos App with many new features. In the last couple of days I tested this new build and especially the Photos App. In this article, I quickly want to share my opinion on the updated app and give you a little hands on.
New Look
Microsoft totally changed the design of the app. The hamburger menu is gone, the app does now have a dark and a light theme and some animations within the app are new. The picture down below should make this design changes quite clear.
New vs. Old Photos App
As you can see, the entire app looks more cleaned up now and the photos are more paramount which is really important for a photos app. Personally, I definitely prefer the new app design. Nevertheless, I hope that with future updates Microsoft will make the photos smaller so that more of them can fit on one page.
Features
The update does not only bring design changes but also introduces new features like drawing on photos and videos.
Draw on anything
Drawing on photos works quite similarly to drawing within the Windows Ink workspace. You just need to tap the Draw button and then you can start using the pen, pencil or the calligraphy pen. You cannot just draw on pictures but also on videos which is pretty cool as well.
Sadly, the ruler and the protractor which you might know from the Windows Ink workspace are not (yet) supported and cannot be used. I hope that these tools will be added to the Photos App in the future!
Better editing
I always enjoyed editing photos with the photos app but at least in my opinion the editing tools somehow weren’t really that well aranged (placed on both sides of the picture).
With the update Microsoft puts all editing tools and functions into one big box – and this looks pretty good! Now everything looks well aranged and the photos you are editing are more in the foreground.
New vs. Old Photos App
Everyone who loves using filters can be excited about the update as because many new filters are now available like Neo, Zeke, Icarus and more.
To sum up, I am very satisfied with this improved version of the Photos App and hope that all these changes will come to the Slow and Release Preview Ring soon. What are your thoughts on the updated app? Tell us in the comments!
