14 DAY TRIAL // Last year, iPad users got some pretty exciting news. Adobe’s popular photo-editing software Lightroom arrived on their slates, providing a convenient way to refine photography, especially when bringing in a laptop wasn't an option.
This week, Adobe is finally giving the same treatment to mobile Android users, who until now have been left out in the cold. However, a tablet-optimized version is still in development and the company doesn't advise users to install the new Lightroom for Android on their slate. Not just yet anyway.
Adobe Lightroom arrives on Android, but it's only on smartphone
Nevertheless, the mobile version of Lightroom for Android has arrived in the Google Play store, boasting features on par with the iOS version.
The app is free for download in the store but users will need to have an active subscription to the Creative Cloud in order to be able to use it.
At this point, the mobile version doesn't boast everything your heart desires. It just comes with the Basic Panel and cropping tools, but do not worry, more advanced features will be added later.
Expect to see options like color temperature, exposure, highlights and contrast. However presets won’t be of use to you for the time being.
Just like with the iPad app, Lightroom mobile takes RAW files and compresses them to versions that are 5% of the original size.
Still, Lightroom’s commenting system is absent from the Android app, although you can still like, flag and reject images.
Lightroom mobile is capable of syncing images, metadata and collections from Lightroom 5.4 (or later) on both Windows and Mac.
It can also import images from your phone and lets you tap into your Creative Cloud files so you can edit while you’re not sitting at the desk.
Basic requirements for running Lightroom on your Android device
The application works with any phone running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean or later and relies on a quad-core CPU clocked at 1.7GHz, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage that is not bound to the microSD card.
