Snapseed, Google’s new photo-editing app, comes to Android

Snapseed, the photo-editing app by Nik software, is now available for free on Android phones, threatening to usurp Instagram as the go-to photo application for smartphones. 

Google has also launched a new "Communities" facet to Google+, which allows users to form private or public groups on the social network for everything "from topics and interests to local neighborhoods to regular poker nights," as Google's senior vice president, Vic Gundotra, wrote in a blog post Thursday. 

Though critics scoffed at Google's attempt to rival Facebook and other social networks, it has seen sustained growth: 235 million people per month now use Google+ features, up from 150 million in late June, the Wall Street Journal reported. 

"During the holidays we reconnect with loved ones and rediscover what makes us tick. And it's times like these that remind me why we started Google+ in the first place: to make online sharing as meaningful as the real thing," Gundotra wrote. "…So today we're launching two new improvements that help bring the nuance and richness of real-life sharing to software." 

Snapseed features fairly advanced photo editing tools, such as a tap auto correct tool, whole image tuning, cropping and rotation, a "selective adjust" tool to enhance certain parts of pictures, and the option to add filters, frames, and more, NBC tech blog Gadget Box reported. 

The new update for iOS also includes a new filter option called Retrolux, very similar to Instagram's filters. There's also, obviously, a Google+ sharing option.

"The photography community is a huge one on Google+, and these folks have been waiting for Android’s Snapseed," wrote Tech Crunch blogger Drew Olanoff. "Today it’s here. For them, the photographers, and for the 'rest of us.' Instagram replacer? Nah, more like an enhancer." 

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