Microsoft Updates OneDrive with Better Photo Experiences

Microsoft today announced updates for OneDrive which make the cloud storage service a better choice for photo experiences. These updates impact Xbox One, Windows Phone 8.1 and the web, and will roll out on different schedules.

Here's what's new/coming.

Xbox One. Starting with the June 2014 System Update for Xbox One, OneDrive for Xbox One will no longer requires an Xbox Live Gold subscription. And the new version of the OneDrive app—which is oriented at photo viewing—will jump right into the photo viewing experience when you launch the app. A new timeline view will display all of your photos in OneDrive.

Windows Phone 8.1. In this new version of Windows Phone 8, which will rollout broadly to existing customers in the months ahead, you can now automatically backup the high resolution photo versions from handsets like the Lumia 1020, 1520 and Icon/930 to OneDrive, instead of just the normal resolution versions. (This was previously known.)

Web. Thanks to a partnership with Walgreens.com, OneDrive customers in the US can print their photos and pick them up at their local Walgreens. As a special promotion, Walgreens is offering a 25 percent discount on all orders from OneDrive: Just use the coupon code ONEDRIVE during checkout.