While Google+ might have failed to challenge Facebook, it is still a decent social networking site that is very tightly integrated with Android. Once you install the official Google+ app on your Android device, the app automatically pulls in all your friends information including their last status update, high-resolution DPs, all the pictures they have uploaded or been tagged in.
The official Google+ app also features a very useful Instant Upload feature that automatically uploads all your clicked photos and videos to Google+/Picasa. While Dropbox and even Facebook offer similar functionality, the album and photo management tools of Google+ are way ahead of the competition.
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If you are already using the Google+ app on your Android device and want to enable Instant Upload, skip directly to Step 3.
Step 1: If your Android device does not already come with the Google+ app pre-installed, install it from the Play Store. Start the app and login with your registered Gmail ID. By default, the Google+ app show the Gmail account that you have synced with your Android device. If you used another email ID, it will be automatically added under ‘Accounts & Sync’ once you login with it to the Google+ app.
Step 2: On your first login, the Google+ app will automatically prompt you to enable Instant Upload. You can either enable the option from here, or later on from the settings of the app.
Step 3: If you did not enable Instant Upload when you first started the Google+ app, but want to do it now, press the 3-dots menu button at the top-right in Google+ app and tap the ‘Settings’ option.
Step 4: Scroll down and tap the ‘Instant Upload’ option from under ‘Photos & Videos’. Then, toggle the On/Off switch at the top-right to On to enable Instant Upload.
Step 5: You can also specify as to when the Google+ app should uploaded all your photos and videos, and in what resolution. Select the ‘Set Storage Size’ option and then select whether you want to upload the images at their full resolution or at 2048*2048 resolution.
You will get 5GB of free storage space for all your photos and videos if you select the ‘Full Size’ option, and unlimited space if you select the latter.
Step 6: You can also specify the Google+ app to upload your photos and videos only when your Android device is connected to a Wi-Fi network. Select the “When to upload photos” and “When to upload videos” options, and then select the “Over Wi-Fi only” option.
To upload the photos and videos when your Android device is on charge, enable the “Upload only when charging” option.
Conclusion
Since most people are not using or have not registered on Google+, they have no idea about the Instant Upload feature of Google+. Do not upload your photos and videos to Google+ when on a mobile network.
If you are on a 2G network, the upload process will take ages to complete and will drastically drain the battery of your Android device. If you upload the photos and videos to Google+ using 3G, you will end up finishing your data balance of the month in no time. I will recommend readers to upload the photos and videos only when they are connected to a Wi-Fi network to preserve battery life and their monthly mobile data allowance.