Adobe Nav (for iPad)

The iPad app Adobe Nav ($1.99, due out next month), which works with Photoshop CS5 (Photoshop version 12.0.4 or later), lets you access your 16 most frequently used tools from the Apple iPad rather than using the mouse and your primary screen. The iPad app connects to Photoshop remotely, letting you use the two in tandem. It's a clean and spacious app, though not quite as much fun to use as Adobe Color Lava ($2.99, 3.5 stars) and Adobe Eazel ($4.99, 3 stars) because it requires a steady connection, and for me, the connection dropped frequently. The other Adobe apps do have to be connected to Photoshop while you're using them, although they can be connected, either while you're using them or after your finished to transfer your work.

The benefit of the app is it gives you a second screen to hold your tools, opening up more real estate on your primary screen. It's a great idea for artists and designers who are traveling and don't have a second screen when they're using a laptop remotely. But in the office, most Photoshop power users have two screens, so the app becomes less applicable at a desk.

Connecting to Photoshop
To connect the app to Photoshop CS5, make sure you are running version 12.0.4 or later—otherwise, you won't even see the correction options in your menus. From the iPad app, press the PS icon in the lower right corner of the screen, which will launch step-by-step instructions for connecting the two devices. If everything is configured to support the connection and no updates are needed, you should be able to connect in a minute or two.

On the other hand, if you need to update Photoshop to a newer version or have something else to troubleshoot along the way, it could take a half hour or more to connect the first time. One problem I encountered was that when I opened the Remote Connections (under the Edit menu), the Password field was pre-filled with four hidden characters, even though directly below them read, "Password must be six characters or longer." It wasn't clear whether or when I was supposed to change this password, or how to save it. When I finally did try it (a few times, trial-and-error style), the new password didn't seem to take because I opened the same dialog box again only to see, once again, four hidden characters in place. Eventually, I typed in a six-character password, closed the box, and tried to connect the app using the same password, and it worked.

When the app is not connected to Photoshop, the "PS" logo in the bottom right is gray. When it is active, it is blue.

Display
Once you're connected, you can use Adobe Nav like it's a virtual, off-screen toolbox. The app's roomy display places large icons of your 16 favorite Photoshop tools front and center in a four-by-four grid. These are much easier to see and select from the iPad than they from the primary screen in Photoshop.

You can swap out the tools at any time for other tools. Press the 'X' to remove a tool. Scroll through the options to select new ones. And drag and drop the new ones into place (see the slideshow). You can also rearrange the 16 tools at any time by dragging them around. None of these actions requires the remote connection with Photoshop, and as a result, all these actions happen smoothly and easily.

But once I tried using the app to actually select the tools I wanted to use in Photoshop [running on a 15-inch MacBook Pro ($2,049.00-$2,199.00, 4 stars)], I experienced long delays between when I selected the tool on the iPad and when it showed up on screen. Vice versa, lag time persisted in the other direction—when I selected colors on screen, they would show up on the iPad several seconds later.

I experienced the longest response times when the iPad app was resting on the table to the left of my notebook. Changing the position helped some, but didn't resolve all the connectivity issues. And connectivity wouldn't be a problem at all if you could connect the app to Photoshop via the iPad's USB cord.

Should You Buy Adobe Nav?
I appreciate that Adobe Nav (for iPad) plates up a spacious interface with large icons to alleviate the eye strain that can come with squinting at Photoshop menus. I also think it could be rather useful to Photoshop CS5 artists who are traveling and working on a notebook, where screen space is already quite limited. But because the app relies on a steady and constant wireless connection, it's not quite as useful as it could be. If there's a way to enable the connection via the USB cord, I hope Adobe adds that functionality because without it, you're at the mercy of a signal that may not hold up.