Adobe PhotoShop Album 2.0 review

9 December 2003 11:38 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Adobe’s strength in its Album software was apparent in the first incarnation of this series. One year on and Adobe are already presenting version 2.0. It might have a smartened up interface, but what lies under the bonnet isn’t very much more than the original.

The interface is still very much the same as the original with the odd bit of rounding here and there. Annoyingly - and why they have done this we don’t know - the menu bar down the left hand side has moved to the right. With it three tabs have appeared at the top for quick access between them and they offer - Photo Well, Organize, and Calendar View. The first is a quick way of seeing all your images that you’ve imported into the programme. The second reveals the image management window and the third presents a calendar with when you took the pictures.

One complaint we had with the first was the Americanisation of the product and with the Calendar view it couldn’t be more in your face. Holiday dates have been marked out, and although there is a nod to UK Bank Holidays, the majority of entries are for Thanksgiving, Veterans Day, Memorial Weekend, and other such dates.

In line with the growing trend of mobile phones, PDAs and other devices that can receive images you can now directly share your images with people a lot easier. All you need is there mobile number and mobile email and Photoshop Album 2.0 does the rest. This is a nice feature and shows the value Adobe puts on images and the mobile market.

Other new features include the ability to have more control over the categorising of your photos - whereas before you could only create sub categories under the main headings such as events or people you can now make your own. This isn’t really the be all and end all, but it’s nice to see the Adobe has addressed some of the earlier complaints.

Verdict

For the old hand who has already bought into the computer based photo album system there isn’t much more here than that was in the first edition. The phone element is a nice touch but nothing to warrant spending another £40 on. That said if you are yet to take the leap this is a very good package offering everything you could want from a programme devised for sorting your digital images. It is far superior to Microsoft’s Digital Imaging Suite package. Good - but not if you already own the first one.

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Review Recap

Made by: Adobe
Price as reviewed: £40
The good: Better than Microsoft’s effort
The bad: Stupid arbitrary layout changes to interface; still Americanised; price
Quick verdict: Adobe has the cash to localize for Europe but still hasn’t bothered. If you’ve got v1, stick to it until v3.
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