Image Compression: ImageOptim vs. Google Photos

When compressing images such as .jpg or .png files, I usually use ImageOptim which is available as a macOS application as well as an online interface that works with any operating system.

However, did you know that you can accomplish the same thing with Google Photos? As long as you store your photos using Storage Saver mode (which compresses your images, as opposed to original quality which does not compress your photos), you can download them in their compressed state.

I decided to compare file sizes and image quality for these two techniques. For ImageOptim, I enabled all compression methods, opted to strip JPG metadata, and enable lossy minification with JPG quality set to 80%. In all fairness, I do not know if these settings are equivalent to the compression algorithms used by Google Photos, but I believe these were more or less the default settings that were present when I installed ImageOptim.

 

From a recent photo shoot, I edited 93 photos in Adobe Lightroom Classic and exported them in JPG at 90% quality. These 93 JPG photos occupied 530.9 MB. After uploading them to Google Photos and downloading all 93 photos, the collection was compressed to 172.1 MB (32.4% of the original size). After compressing them with ImageOptim, the 93 photos were reduced to 159.7 MB (30.1% of the original size).

In terms of image quality, I cannot see any noticeable degradation in quality when displaying the photos in full screen mode on my 32-inch monitor. It is possible that if I enlarged all photos to 100% magnification I would see artifacts in the compressed images, but for all practical purposes, the compressed images with both Google Photos and ImageOptim look no different to me than the original uncompressed images.

In summary, I observed a minor advantage in file size when compressing JPG images with ImageOptim as compared with Google Photos, but this may simply be due to my ImageOptim compression settings. I think the one advantage of ImageOptim is that you can choose your JPG compression quality, whereas compression with Google Photos is limited to their default settings. Another advantage of ImageOptim is that image compression is quick, whereas compression with Google Photos requires uploading and downloading images so is limited by internet bandwidth. Overall, I find both compression methods to be perfectly suitable for my needs, but I’m sticking with ImageOptim for macOS because of its convenience.

Apple iPhone Battery Replacement

I purchased my iPhone 12 Pro Max in November 2020. After using it for 4.5 years, its ability to hold a charge has decreased noticeably, and the iOS Battery Health & Charging setting displayed a “Service” indicator (as pictured above) with a maximum capacity of 78% (as pictured below). Because I am happy with the features of my existing iPhone, I decided to replace the battery and hold off on upgrading for at least a couple of years.

There are 2 Apple stores in my area, and both are situated in crowded malls. I initially dreaded hunting and paying for a parking space and battling crowds just to visit the Apple Store, but I discovered from the iPhone Battery Replacement website that my local Best Buy was an Apple Authorized Service Provider, so I scheduled an appointment there. My local Best Buy is less than a mile away, there is plenty of parking, and it’s usually not very crowded. There were also more appointment slots available, and I was able to find a time that matched my schedule the next day.

Upon walking into the Best Buy for my appointment, I discovered that the service was performed by Geek Squad. Nothing wrong with that, just an observation. Despite me scheduling an appointment through the iPhone Battery Replacement website and specifying that I wanted my iPhone 12 Pro Max battery replaced, the Geek Squad staff did not receive that information. After telling my service technician that I had an iPhone 12 Pro Max, he checked their inventory and said that I was lucky because they had 1 battery left. I think Apple could provide more seamless services by notifying their Apple Authorized Service Providers about the details of the service. Had they run out of iPhone 12 Pro Max batteries, I would have had to reschedule my appointment. If I ever use an Apple Authorized Service Provider again, I will know to call ahead of time and inquire about parts inventory. Anyway, the service technician ran diagnostics on my phone and confirmed that the battery needed replacement. I paid $89 + tax and was told to return in about 3 hours to pick up the phone. After picking up my phone, I verified that the Battery Health & Charging “Service” indicator went away and the maximum capacity was back at 100%.

I’ve only been using the new battery for 2 days, but I’ve felt that its ability to hold a charge is only slightly improved, whereas I expected a dramatic improvement. Following my non-scientific observations, I speculated whether they might have accidentally installed an iPhone 12 battery in my iPhone 12 Pro Max, and I had a brief conversation with ChatGPT, It stated that it’s possible that an incorrect battery was installed and that an iPhone 12 Pro Max battery should have a capacity of ~3,687 mAh. It said that I could check my battery capacity with coconutBattery and so I did. It confirmed that my battery had a full charge capacity of 3839 mAh and a design capacity of 3666 mAh, so the numbers are compatible with an iPhone 12 Pro Max battery.

 

ChatGPT also stated “Let it go through 2–3 full charge cycles to see if calibration improves performance.” There is an Apple Support article about recalibration of battery health. Note that recalibration in this context does not refer to fully discharging the battery to 0% and fully charging it to 100%. Instead, recalibration happens automatically with normal use of the phone. Although my phone does not state that it is recalibrating the battery, I will wait a couple weeks to see if maybe my perceptions of battery life change and/or recalibration results in more accurate reporting of remaining battery life.