Store all of your beautiful photos in a sleek device, all outside of the benevolent, ever-watchful eye of Cloud technology? Many photographers already find that the cloud isn't quite where they need it to be to make the switch.
But general unease with cloud technology is spurring a host of innovations to provide non-Cloud-based storage solutions for photos and video, and Pholio, powered by artificial intelligence, looks to replace Google Photos and cloud photo storage in general, doing much the same thing with a few more bells and whistles.
After connecting the Pholio device with a PC, Mac, smartphone, or tablet, Pholio’s software scans it for new photos and videos, creating a backup of all the data in the process. These backup copies can be stored at either full resolution or in optimized versions depending upon the photographer’s preferences.
There are two versions of Pholio available: a standard, 500 GB unit and a Pro version that comes in at 2 TB – serious stuff but probably an ideal size for many photographers.
The system, in development for the past three years, comes equipped with over 20,000 built-in description tags for easy cataloguing and search functionality.
Pholio also allows for user customized keywords as well.
Another neat feature of Pholio’s software is its ability to search photos based on facial recognition software or to take a still photo out of a video capture.
A future update to Pholio will allow for expanded backup options and data encryption.
Pholio’s software was developed through machine training methods according to its Kickstarter page. Letting the algorithm sift through 1000’s of pictures helped it learn how to categorize images efficiently so, when the software launches, it should be familiar with a range of common photographic setups such as family photos, landscapes, etc.
The image software has achieved operational stage and has been used for the past twelve months according to the Pholio team.
$260 will get you an entry-level Pholio with an anticipated delivery by January 2018 according to its Kickstarter page, with a possible December-Christmas date possible depending upon sourcing of electronic components and manufacturing lead times.
