Dropbox unveiled on Thursday a new photo uploading feature for Android smartphones, sharpening its competition with Google, Apple, and other companies battling to rule the market of cloud storage solutions. With a single click, the feature will allow users to upload high-resolution pictures straight from their smartphones onto the virtual "cloud," where the files can be accessed from any computer or mobile device.

Starting today for Android, and coming soon for iOS, the Dropbox mobile apps can automatically upload users photos and videos to Dropbox using Wi-Fi or users' data plans. They're all uploaded at original size and full quality, and saved to a private folder in user's Dropbox called Camera Uploads where they're ready to view or share.

Dropbox only offers users storage space - the service will not provide any photo editing or manipulation features, like those provided by Google's Picasa program.

Meanwhile, the new version of Dropbox Windows and Mac desktop apps can automatically upload from just about any camera, smartphone, tablet, or SD card connected to a computer.

Once photos have been automatically uploaded to Dropbox, users will be able to check them out using a sneak peek of the Dropbox website.

Dropbox will give users 500 MB of Dropbox space for their first automatic upload. As they take more photos and videos, they can use this feature to automatically upload up to a total of 3 GB extra for free.

Earlier this month, Google announced Drive, a cloud storage service that was seen as a direct answer to Dropbox's recent growth.

Last June, Apple also announced iCloud, a service for Apple users that also syncs email and calendars.