A comprehensive suite of creativity!
Adobe Creative Cloud is the perfect suite with several apps to sketch, draw, edit, paint and create. With a range of updates, the company has started paying attention to mobile apps, especially for Android. If you’re a designer, content creator or photographer, Adobe Creative Cloud (Android) is the suite you need to exemplify creativity right from your fingertips.
With Adobe’s family of apps, create anything you can imagine!
It’s the right set of tools for every content creator
Adobe has already started adding new apps to the Google Play Store, and continues to send regular updates. The real question - are the apps as good as their desktop counterparts? If you’re expecting Adobe Creative Cloud to be the same for all versions, you might be disappointed. As compared to the desktop version, the app’s interface is more complex, and the small screen doesn’t really help.
Having said that, Adobe CC (Android) is more of a supplement than a replacement for the desktop version. In fact, if you consider competitors, there isn’t a single platform giving access to such a wide range of apps in one power-packed suite. Of course there are alternatives for individual apps in the suite. These have been listed later in the review. Nevertheless, the complete collection of apps makes Adobe CC a winner in every aspect.
Let’s take a look at what you can expect from some of the most popular apps available with Adobe Creative Cloud (Android).
Adobe Photoshop Mix
If your work requires serious editing of images, Photoshop Mix will be a great choice. While competitors like Pixlr also offer a wide range of features, this one offers support for layers with several editing functions. Most importantly, you can send compositions to Photoshop CC for further touch-ups.
An excellent choice for preliminary post-production, Photoshop Mix allows you to make alterations to clarity, exposure, saturation and contrast. You can apply numerous filter effects to multiple layers. The biggest advantage of Photoshop Mix is the ability to create customized filters.
With other basic features, such as cut-out and crop, Photoshop Mix is a powerful addition to Adobe Creative Cloud for Android (version 5.0 and above), giving you a chance to edit images quickly and easily.
Adobe Capture CC
While Adobe still maintains three separate apps called Brush CC, Shape CC, and Color CC, the features from all have been rolled into Capture CC. You won’t find any other app with so many functions. All brushes, shapes, colors, and looks you capture are directly saved to your Adobe account.
The app enables you to use the mobile camera as a viewfinder. You can pull color schemes in real-time, and save them for later. The ‘Capture’ feature converts whatever the camera sees into light-dark contrast-based vector shapes. You can refine shapes before saving them.
The ‘Capture’ feature also lets the camera turn everything visible into brushes to be used in Illustrator CC and Photoshop CC. You can easily adjust and refine brushes too. While using the camera, you can also pull colors for video-enhancing filters to be used in After Effects CC and Premiere Pro CC. Without a doubt, Adobe Capture CC is the best option in the market.
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
A lightweight version of the desktop program, Lightroom CC is an excellent choice for photographers. While RawTherapee wins over Lightroom CC with excellent batch processing and downloads, the latter comes with a wide range of features supporting digital creations.
Using Lightroom CC, you can crop images with more control and precision than RawTherapee and other similar programs. It can even change orientations, lock aspect ratios, and straighten tilted pictures.
There are a number of preset options for quick adjustments under multiple categories, such as Effect, Detail, Creative, B&W, and Color. For capturing shots on the go, ‘Quick’ is an amazing feature.
Lightroom CC lets you fiddle with photographic exposure, shadows, highlights, white balance, and contrast. All of these features combined in a single platform make Lightroom CC a much better choice than its competitors.
Adobe Illustrator Draw
Over the years, Illustrator Draw has become the go-to app for digital artists. Whether you’re a professional, or just want to learn the nitty-gritty of designing, you will not be disappointed. Though it’s a vector drawing app, it works much better with a tablet and a stylus.
Amateur artists working on casual projects and doodles will find Illustrator Draw quite handy. It can toggle into fullscreen mode, support layers, and offer various pen types. You can import shapes from Adobe Capture CC.
Though a lot of artists prefer Inkscape, which uses SVG format, Illustrator Draw wins the race with a powerful Behance community. You can seamlessly browse through drawings uploaded by others, and even publish your own creations in the community forums. Images can also be shared to Facebook and Twitter, or the desktop version of the app.
Where can you run this program?
Adobe has always been the leading name in office, productivity and designing tools. It does not come as a surprise to see Creative Cloud compatible with Android, iOS and Windows platforms.
Is there a better alternative?
Apart from Adobe Creative Cloud, there is not a single software with a collection of multiple apps serving various creative needs. Though it’s a good choice, certain limitations in the free version, such as storage capped at 2 GB might be a deterrent. Here’s a few alternatives for different apps in the suite.
Pixlr is probably the best alternative to Photoshop Mix. It is a free tool designed for non-professionals. Like Adobe CC, the cloud-based photo editor includes advanced features, such as teeth whitening, red-eye removal and cropping. While it’s a good program, you will not be able to sync data or images with other Adobe apps.
RawTherapee as an Alternative to Lightroom offers a wide range of editing tools. You’ll be able to recover details, boost colors, and correct distortion. It can even edit raw image files. With its advanced features, it lets you edit images exactly how you want. Thanks to batch processing, an area where Lightroom CC isn’t very good, it is an excellent alternative to the Adobe app.
Inkscape, an alternative to Illustrator Draw. Since it focuses on SVG format, Inkscape is quite popular among designers. Unlike other free tools, it supports advanced features, such as cloned objects, markers, and alpha blending. It also has complete support for various color modes, which makes it a worthy competitor of Illustrator Draw.
Our take
Once again, you will not find another app or suite offering such a wide range of features and applications. This makes Adobe Creative Cloud an excellent choice anyway. Though Illustrator Draw seems a bit disappointing, Lightroom CC, Photoshop Mix, and Capture are some cool offerings worth giving a try.
Should you download it?
Yes, without a doubt! Designed as a mobile ecosystem for Adobe subscription services, Adobe Creative Cloud (Android) creates a single hub for all projects and files created with several apps. It’s one of the simplest and most effective ways to edit, share and send creations.
