PhotoScan updated with higher resolution output, still fails to impress

When Google launched PhotoScan last month, we were sort of impressed by the app's premise and intuitive design, but we were also disappointed with the results it produced. Back in November, PhotoScan was only capable of outputting images with a maximum resolution of 2000 x 2000 pixels (roughly the equivalent to what a 3 MP camera would produce size-wise). This, coupled with the fact that PhotoScan was easily confused when cropping and that the final results also exhibited quite a bit of compression, turned us off from Google's new image scanning app.

Google has just released a new update for PhotoScan that bumps its output resolution to 3000 x 3000 pixels (roughly around 5 MP), which is a definite improvement over the previous version. The app has also become a bit smarter when it comes to cropping. The previous version of PhotoScan was easily confused by straight lines, so placing the photo you wanted to scan on a plain surface was essential. This update improves things a bit and PhotoScan seems more aware of where the surface you want scanned begins and ends.



Another thing the update improves on is image compression. The old version of PhotoScan not only output relatively small results, but they exhibited noticeable loss in detail when viewed in full size as well. This seems to have been improved with the new update, although compression is still noticeable when the image is blown to full size.

Bottom line is, take PhotoScan for another spin and see if it does good enough of a job for your needs. As far as we are concerned, however, the app is still not up to the standards we'd expect from software of this type. If you want to digitize your old photo collection, our advice is still to look elsewhere. Your best bet would probably be a flatbed scanner.

Download PhotoScan: