Adobe Photoshop Express Online Photo Sharing and Editing Review

I love Adobe Photoshop and for years I've used a version we got for free from a friend.  Well I lost the CD for that so it's been awhile since I've been able to use it.  I test drove Adobe Photoshop CS3 and it was awesome, but let's face it, I'm not ready to spend the $649 for it!  Then one day I received an advertisement for Photoshop Express that was Free and Online!  Of course I joined that very minute, but after playing with it a bit I'm finding it's not at all what I expected.

How do you sign up?
Go to the link and sign up... it's that simple!  And yes it is free.  There are no gimmicks, no "you can do everything except that one feature", at least there's been none that I've come across so far. 

What can you do?
You can upload photos, and then do various things with them such as:

• Edits: Crop, Resize, Red Eye, Lighting changes, Rotate and a few special effects
• Email Photo
• Link to the photo directly
• Download the photo
• Share them in your gallery for all to see
• Or simply just store it in your library/albums

What did I expect?
Honestly I expected so much more!  I expected Photoshop online!  Ok, I knew I wouldn't get all $600 worth of features online, but I thought that even if I got 25% of the features of Photoshop, I'd be set.  The main reason I logged into it today is because I really wanted to crop an image out of a photo.  I remembered how photoshop had a magic crop tool (or something like that) which made it super easy to do this... well... this online version does not have that.  It doesn't have anything you can do in photoshop.  Instead, this online version is most comparable to Snapfish or other photo sites of the like.

Why would I still use it then?
There are a few cool features I have found.  The Pop Color option is awesome as it let's you take a color out of a photo and pop it, or make it into different colors.  A lot of the other features (black and white, sketch, etc) work better and give you more options than other online photo editing tools.

Reason #2 why I'll still use this is because it is SUPER EASY to use.  You can upload photos in seconds and you are instantly able to edit them.  When looking at features, you can mouse over the options to preview what the change would look like BEFORE you make it.  This is sweet.

Reason #3 is that Photoshop Express is SO MUCH FASTER then Snapfish or any other photo site.  These people really know what they were doing.  I have never used a photo site that moves as fast as this. When editing photos, I can edit, and save the new version, so quickly that it motivates me to play with my photos more than I normally would in one night.   Uploads are faster then ever as well.

Reason #4 - well - it is Free!

Overall
If you are looking for a fancier option to do your simple photo editing and sharing, Photoshop Express is great for that.  If you are expecting "Photoshop CS3" online, then you will be sadly disappointed.  There are in fact 0 features that I used in Photoshop software and most of these features I've seen elsewhere.  However it works fast, it's pretty neat, and it will please the common user who just wants to have a little fun.  In addition, this is only in Beta so I expect more good things will come in the future!  Enjoy!!