Photoshop Express for Windows Phone adds capabilities

Photoshop Express is Adobe’s effort to provide basic digital image editing capabilities on the phone. It is a free app available for most major phone platforms. As more photos are captured on phones, and shared using services such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, Adobe is struggling to make Photoshop relevant for the average consumer. Photoshop remains the go-to tool for designers, marketing professionals, and others in creative fields. But general users who casually take and share photos often accept photos as-is, use integrated filters on their phones, or use tools other than Photoshop for any edits that are created. Photoshop is stuck at the high-end of the market, and with Photoshop Express, Adobe is working to make the brand useful for average photographers who aren’t professional designers.

Adobe continues this effort with a recent release of an update to the Adobe Photoshop Express app for Windows Phone. This Photoshop app provides only a small section of the editing options available in the full version of Photoshop that operates on desktop and notebook computers. This update to the mobile version of Photoshop Express can be used to remove fog or haze that clouds an image, or increase the color intensity of images. While Photoshop Express is a free app in the Windows Phone store, these new capabilities may eventually require an in-app purchase, as they aren’t part of the original Photoshop Express.

Adobe has indicated that the new capabilities, such as the defog function, as well as a noise reduction function, may eventually require an additional payment to access. But for now, Adobe is making them available at no cost for users of the Photoshop Express for Windows Phone.

These capabilities are in addition to the Photoshop Express features that can be used to perform basic edits such as straightening, cropping, and rotating images, as well as remove red-eye. Color and tone adjustments are also included, such as adjustments for brightness, exposure, contrast and clarity within this pared-down version of Photoshop. Don’t expect to find layers, text, effects, or filters – this is a pared-down, free Photoshop for use on handheld devices. You’ll find that Photoshop training is not a requirement for working with the pared-down mobile version of the app. Photoshop Express is a useful tool for quick image fixes, and the free additional capabilities for Windows Phone users make it a sensible choice for image editing if you are a Windows Phone user.