In times past, slide shows were expensive, difficult and mostly a mystery. This mystery has been shattered by companies like Google and Costco who allow us to upload images, select a tempo and some background images that fit our context, then it is simply check a box, click a button and BAM, we have a new slideshow to share on social media or with friends and family.
Prerequisites:
As usual, we have some things that we need to handle before making our short video.
- You must have a Google account
- You must have Google Photos installed
Creating a Slideshow:
- Launch the Photos app
- Tap the menu button in the upper right hand corner of the screen (it’s inside the search bar)
- Tap the Movie option
- Select all the images you want to use in your slideshow and tap the Create button in the upper right. NOTE if you have not saved these images to your Google account it will upload them now. See my write up on backing up your images to set this up automatically.
- Once you click the Create button your video will be created with some randomly chosen design features for you to review. You can Change these features by using the three buttons on the bottom.
- The first option allows you to change the filter through which the images are shown. Scroll through and choose which one works best for your show.
- The second option is for music. You can choose music from your own library or pick one from their assorted library.
- The final option allows you to add or remove images to the slideshow.
EXAMPLE VIDEO:
From here you have a number of options. You can export the video to your phone; send the shared link to family and friends; or play it at the party you made it for. This is a living, breathing video which can be added to and changed by the click of a few simply button.
Do you think you will use this for your next slideshow? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
There are two wallpaper apps in the Google Play Store that can help you communicate your climate preferences: “Snowfall Day Night Christmas” and “Beach Palms 3D Live” wallpapers, from developer Bastion7, offers up family-friendly and rather high-quality wallpapers for your device….all for free (paid Pro versions are available – more on this in a bit).
The two apps have some features in common. They both have very nice visuals, with great colors and realistic details. They also contain a great 3D effect, showing realistic depth between items in-scene. The 3D effect is also utilized while swiping between home screen panes. As the day progresses, a bright sun rises high above the horizon. As the day wanes, the sun dips low into a colorful sunset before retiring. At night a full moon slowly rises and casts a ghostly pall over the entire scene until morning when the sun beckons once again. Also, both apps extend to your device’s lock screen, offering the same visuals and interactivity there.
Both apps offer a Pro version, for $1.99 each. What your money buys you is the ability to further control the sun & moon: In Pro the sun’s height is governed by your exact location (using your device’s GPS), while the moon’s phase is also governed by your device’s location. Honestly I’m not at all convinced this added feature set validates the extra $2, but to each their own.
Now here’s the bad news: On multiple occasions, I had the wallpaper “blackout” on me. Meaning that upon waking up my device, both the lock screen and subsequent home screens showed only a black background; nothing to see at all. And it wasn’t temporary; this blackout effect didn’t go away without re-opening the app and re-setting the wallpaper. I’m not sure if this is a device-specific issue or it’s more widespread, but it definitely bears noting. That said, as long as you didn’t splurge for the GPS-based sun/moon effects, you’d wouldn’t be out much at all.
Yummily is probably the best Android app for 
