Picasa for iPhone makes a pretty picture

Google’s torrid love affair with the iPhone continues as the big G rolls out a new iPhone-optimized interface for its online photo-sharing site, Picasa. According to Joe Walnes, a software engineer with Google’s mobile division, the decision to do an iPhone-specific version of Picasa came about where all good ideas do: the pub.

I was sitting in the pub recently (I’m a Brit, it’s what I do), and I wanted to show my friend a photo of the sunset I saw on my honeymoon. I pulled out my phone and started typing in the URL for Picasa Web Albums. Before I could continue, he threw his shiny iPhone into my hand. He told me to launch the Safari browser bundled on the iPhone and give that a try.

I had a look around some websites and I really liked how they looked on the iPhone. I could get to everything I needed. I went to picasaweb.google.com but it didn’t quite feel right. It was using some very cool AJAXy features, but these were designed with a desktop web-browsing experience in mind. So the next day I had a go at creating a new interface for Picasa Web, designed for the iPhone.

The interface is smooth and easy to use on the iPhone and lets you quickly view your pictures or search for images in the community at large. It even has a slideshow mode, and of course you can flip your images into landscape just by rotating the phone. To access the new interface, head over to Picasa on your iPhone, or by navigating to Google’s revamped homepage and selecting “More” from the toolbar at the top.