Adobe iPad Apps Are Out Today
I’m a sucker for art apps on the iPad, so I got the only just-released Adobe app that I could fathom using sans CS5 today and tested it out. (The other two are one that acts like a Wacom when using the software and another that lets you create color palettes.)
Eazel is a $5 app that acts like a watercolor easel and features 5-finger touch navigation. After playing with it for 15 minutes or so, here are my main talking points:
• 5-finger touch is fast and feels futuristic, like the ultimate “iPad navigation”
• However, it makes it way too easy to accidentally delete everything you’ve been working on
• There’s only one undo level, so hello mistakes
• No layers, although I smell a $5 upgrade in the future
• Why just watercolor texture? Why not some other options?
• The branding on this app is weirdly new age. Everything is at a laying-down perspective while mysterious angel hands sweep around, creating sparkly strokes that shimmer into drawings of muscular men. It doesn’t feel like an aesthetic that designers respond well to. Could it be targeted at artists instead?
I think the message behind these apps, other than “We’re becoming an app company too!,” is “Upgrade to CS5″ already. I’m not sure what the industry standard is, but there are probably a lot of people out there, like me, who would otherwise be perfectly content (and non-broke) using CS4 forever. But look what we could do with our iPads if we could just upgrade! I could use my Wacom (the cheap one) as a sushi tray from now on.
I would say wait to buy this until the next upgrade.