Photoshop Mobile Beta to arrive in September

By Tim Conneally | Published August 27, 2008, 1:36 PM

While the main upgrades to Photoshop.com are not expected until October, the public beta for Photoshop.com Mobile will open a month sooner.

Prospective beta testers will be wise not to expect even a fraction of Photoshop's transformative power, but rather the stripped-down functions of the Photoshop Express beta in a dedicated mobile UI.

Five handsets will be supported in the beta group: Motorola Q 9h and Q Music 9m, Samsung Blackjack I and II, and Palm Treo 750w. Adobe says interaction with the Shozu uploader will also be added in September, giving a larger selection of devices the ability to upload photos to Photoshop.com.

Unfortunately, editing tools are not highlighted as banner features for the service yet. In fact, there is no mention of them at all. Screenshots look similar to the mobile Flickr app for iPhone, and promise little else.

While Windows Mobile 6 devices offer cursory editing tools, allowing rotation, cropping, and auto-correction of snapshots, and Sony Ericsson devices offer slightly more with red-eye reduction and touch-up features, arguably a mobile Photoshop without editing simply would not be Photoshop.

The free beta download will be available next month and access the free 5 GB storage with a basic Photoshop.com account. The $49.99 "Plus" membership will offer 20 GB of storage and bonus features. Membership is explained further on Adobe's Photoshop Elements site.