Photo Stream on iOS 6: Private photo sharing that’s well-suited for travelers

Shared Photo Streams on iOS 6 allows travelers to share select photos directly to friends’ iCloud accounts, taking away the need for email attachments or dealing with third-party sites like Facebook or Shutterfly.

Users select specific photos, click Share, and choose the recipients. Recipients using an iOS 6-updated Apple device or a Mac will receive the pictures directly in their Photos app or iPhoto, but non-Apple users can also view photos on the web at a designated photos.icloud.com site.

Shared photo streams aren’t counted as part of your iCloud storage so uploads are free and unlimited, similar to Facebook. Apple has also added a social component to the update so users can like photos and leave comments on the photos that are shared with them. Entire albums can be created and shared online as well. It seems there is no Facebook integration on the new Photo Stream.

Additional camera improvements for clearer photos

The iPhone 5’s newest photo feature is called Panorama. Users can take 28 megapixel photos like the impressive photo of the Golden Gate bridge presented during today’s Apple event.

The iPhone 5’s new screen allows photos to be viewed on a 4-inch display (half an inch larger) with an improved screen display with 1136-by-640 pixel resolution. Apple users can also save an image from the iPhone app 1.7x faster on the new Apple A6 operating chip, says Phil Schiller. Extended battery life on the iPhone 5 is great news for travelers that use their smartphones as their only camera on trips.