Forums > Digital Art and Retouching > Photoshop and Lightroom CC on an Android tablet

Photographer

Francisco Castro

Posts: 2630

Cincinnati, Ohio, US

Does anyone here have any experience using PS and Lightroom CC on an Android tablet? (I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab S2).Is the experience a positive one? Do all your tools and actions work in generally the same manner; adjusting for the difference in interface?

Most important of all, would you recommend it as a way of doing high end editing?

I currently do all my PS editing on a PC laptop. But if I can leave that at home when travelling and still be able to produce work with just my tablet, I would love it. But it has to be able to produce.

May 17 16 12:21 pm Link

Photographer

J O H N A L L A N

Posts: 12221

Los Angeles, California, US

I don't believe the major functionality of PS nor LR is ported to tablets yet (neither Android nor IOS).
There are some Adobe applications that provide very limited mobile functionality.

May 17 16 01:08 pm Link

Photographer

Francisco Castro

Posts: 2630

Cincinnati, Ohio, US

J O H N  A L L A N wrote:
I don't believe the major functionality of PS nor LR is ported to tablets yet (neither Android nor IOS).
There are some Adobe applications that provide very limited mobile functionality.

Thanks. I guess I'll be lugging around my laptop when travelling so I can edit on location then. :-(

May 18 16 04:29 am Link

Photographer

thiswayup

Posts: 1136

Runcorn, England, United Kingdom

Francisco Castro wrote:
Does anyone here have any experience using PS and Lightroom CC on an Android tablet? (I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab S2).Is the experience a positive one? Do all your tools and actions work in generally the same manner; adjusting for the difference in interface?

Most important of all, would you recommend it as a way of doing high end editing?

I currently do all my PS editing on a PC laptop. But if I can leave that at home when travelling and still be able to produce work with just my tablet, I would love it. But it has to be able to produce.

The difference in processing power between a tablet and the sort of PC you'd want to use for retouching is still considerable. If you want a tablet form factor solution then you'll probably have to pony up for a Microsoft Surface Pro - and even this is marginal: http://gizmodo.com/microsoft-surface-pr … 1737565503

May 18 16 08:52 am Link

Photographer

Leonard Gee Photography

Posts: 18096

Sacramento, California, US

Francisco Castro wrote:
Most important of all, would you recommend it as a way of doing high end editing?
.....................
I currently do all my PS editing on a PC laptop. But if I can leave that at home when travelling and still be able to produce work with just my tablet, I would love it. But it has to be able to produce.

no. android nor windows tabs (at this point)

layers, masks, paths, shortcuts & modifier keys

try again two, three or more years later

May 18 16 08:58 am Link

Photographer

DespayreFX

Posts: 1481

Delta, British Columbia, Canada

thiswayup wrote:
The difference in processing power between a tablet and the sort of PC you'd want to use for retouching is still considerable. If you want a tablet form factor solution then you'll probably have to pony up for a Microsoft Surface Pro - and even this is marginal: http://gizmodo.com/microsoft-surface-pr … 1737565503

The Surface Pro runs Windows, and as such, has nothing to do with what the OP is asking. Please read the question if you're going to attempt to offer something of value.

FYI, the Surface Pro (the best one, not the cheap, obviously not good enough, one reviewed in your link), is far more than adequate for doing any work in Photoshop.

However, as mentioned, the problem with software on tablets, is that because the processing power and RAM is more limited, the apps designed for those OS's is also very limited. You can do *some* retouching on a tablet, but you would not want to use it for high end work, or on a constant basis.

May 18 16 09:56 am Link

Photographer

thiswayup

Posts: 1136

Runcorn, England, United Kingdom

DespayreFX wrote:
The Surface Pro runs Windows, and as such, has nothing to do with what the OP is asking.

Unlike you I read it intelligently and assumed that the reader would do the same for the answer. The point is that for professional work the Surface has tablet portability, far more power than any android device, and is still marginal. This both puts using android in context and considers the most likely alternative. (Yes, two things at once - no wonder you were confused!)

FYI, the Surface Pro (the best one, not the cheap, obviously not good enough, one reviewed in your link), is far more than adequate for doing any work in Photoshop.

Then the OP might be interested in that so you should post a link to  a review by someone competent who says that.

May 20 16 08:21 am Link

Photographer

T Smalls Photography

Posts: 143

Bakersfield, California, US

I wouldn't use Lightroom mobile for any paid products, but it's perfectly adequate for quick color corrections and for images you just want to post to instagram and the like.

May 20 16 08:38 pm Link

Clothing Designer

GRMACK

Posts: 5436

Bakersfield, California, US

I have a Samsung 10" tablet and also their S6 Edge phone.  Both have x-rite ColorTRUE on them and are calibrated using their i1 Display Pro, yet they are both different looking with the same photo.

The S6 Edge has a far brighter screen and far more vivid colors (OLED perhaps?).  The tablet seems to have a cheaper screen and maybe not a full sRGB gamut either where the S6 may be larger than sRGB but not Adobe RGB 1998.  The reds are way different between them even calibrating with the same head and same software. I actually prefer to not use the calibrated one for the S6.

I also have a Eizo CG-248-4k monitor that has three factory calibrations for web, photos, and printing built into it.  I can emulate the S6 and tablet on its screen from a notebook with nVidia 980M GPU card and the two are different and need to be setup differently.  As to which Samsung device is better, it's a personal choice, but likely not good for a pro edit station.  They are sort of fun to "play edit" on with Snapseed app, etc. but dunno about the pro end of it since the images are small and JPG and my "edited for printing TIIFs" are huge, often around 256,000 KB in size out of PS CS6. Files like that would tax many if not all tablets.

Imho, of course.

May 21 16 07:58 am Link