Adobe has released a major update to its Photoshop Lightroom for Android mobile app, now achieving feature parity with its iOS counterpart — and even surpassing it in one major way. A brand new in-app camera lets you shoot in Adobe Camera Raw DNG format. 

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Announced at the Mobile World Congress annual smartphone extravaganza, Lightroom for Android version 2.0 inaugurates a complete, non-destructive Raw workflow that supports shooting, editing, sharing and syncing full resolution uncompressed files from Android handsets. iOS does not have the ability to shoot in DNG format, though Adobe hopes to work with Apple to eventually make that happen. 

Note that this complete Raw workflow, which Adobe calls the first end-to-end mobile Raw solution, works only via Creative Cloud. Subscribers to the Creative Cloud Photography Plan pay $9.99 per month for a plan that includes the desktop versions of Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC. With access to Adobe’s server, photographers can sync edits automatically with the desktop app or Lightroom on the Web. Changes you make to an image in any location automatically show up everywhere in real time. For non-subscribers, a 30-day free trial with 2GB of online storage is available, which you can continue indefinitely after the trial period expires. And you can always use the free mobile Lightroom as a standalone app.

Split toning can be used to add a color cast to highlights and shadows
Adobe's Dehaze tool is available with the Lightroom for Android update

While the camera Raw workflow is huge, it joins many other updates to the Android photo editor and organizer. Feature updates include:

  • Five shoot-through presets, available within the new in-app camera, let you preview and capture images with non-destructive built-in creative effects. Shoot-through presets require support for OpenGL ES 3.0 or later. 
  • The popular Dehaze adjustment tool, which corrects haze and fog, has now arrived on the Android app. Use it to enhance color and contrast, or create special effects. 
  • The new Split Toning enhancement lets you add a color cast to image highlights and shadows or create a black & white split tone look.
  • The Target Adjustment Tool function in the color and black & white editing tools provides direct controls for shifting colors (hue, saturation, and luminance values) in specific areas of your photos.
  • The Point Curve mode in the Tone Curve tool offers complete control over an image’s tonality and contrast by letting you access RGB and discrete red, green and blue color channels.?
  • A single tap hooks Lightroom for Android into the mobile Adobe Premiere Clip app, making it easy to create videos from your Lightroom photo collections and sync them to music.

You can download Adobe Photoshop Lightroom for Android 2.0 now from the Google Play Store. The app is free for both smartphones and tablets, though the tablet version does not yet support the in-app camera.