Adobe Photoshop Express enters beta.

Adobe have released the first beta of a new online image editing application, Photoshop Express,  which is really more of a service that just an app.

What has impressed me so far is the speed with which the site operates when performing actions on an image. The functionality offered by the site is basic for an image editor but most if what you would expect to use especially when you consider that this is online. Cropping, colour saturation, white balance and all the usual suspects are there but it would be nice if there was the ability to overlay text or draw on the image (just think of what you could do on a tablet PC) as these features are not there.

Instant results

One great feature to create an instant effect is "Pop Color" which picks out the core colours in the image and allows you to highlight just that colour whilst making the rest of the image black an white.

Just look at the full size versions of these images to get a taste of the power of Photoshop Express when using Pop Color (click thumbnails):

How impressive is that for an online application?

More than just an app

I say that Photoshop Express is more of a service than just an application because you get 2GB worth of free storage to hold your library. Not only that but in true Flickr style you can collate images in to "Albums" in your Gallery for public display as slideshows.

On the whole I'm pretty impressed so far and feel that this will provide just about everything the casual user would demand, a few extra features would be great, however, to make it a truly compelling service.

Do you use online image editors? What's your tool of choice? What would make Photoshop Express a compelling service for you?