PhotoLab Print? That's where two questions were addressed.
And any product that converts to output profiles should be able to do the same as I asked about PhotoLab Print. Lots or other products that provide conversions to an output color space provide a soft proof.
Now since you can answer questions specifically about this new product:
Out of gamut warnings are rather useless.
Does the OOG overlay update as you change rendering intent? Does it treat 1% OOG and 85% OOG the same with the same overlay? If so, like Photoshop, kind of useless.
Does it provide paper white and ink black simulation and handle Black Point Compensation?
Does it actually convert the source data into the output data and if not, BPC and the CMM may elsewhere may produce differing results than predicted I would imagine.
Is there an upgrade path for the lesser expensive product to the more expensive software product if indeed, the hardware is identical (is it?).
Does either product allow calibration of display and alter contrast ratio? That be true if those were the only two products that provided soft proofing. That isn't the case. I provided TWO free Mac OS products that provide soft proofing. AND actually convert that data using profiles!
Sorry, Andrew, I thought you were referring to SpyderXElite with those earlier questions.
Out of gamut warnings are what they are: a technical feature. We know what the limitations are. Yes, the OOG warning preview changes as soon as you switch rendering intents. It's a "flat" preview that doesn't show differences in how far out of gamut things are. You'd need to write some complex code and possibly your own home-rolled CMS to do that.
Photoshop, as you've noted, behaves the same way - OOG colors in Photoshop's View:Proof Setup:Custom display, with Gamut Warning enabled, are mapped to flat gray. But I don't think Adobe thinks this feature is "useless", as it's been in Photoshop forever and they haven't shown any inclination to drop it. When I was able to put a gamut warning into Elite's soft proofing, I was happy to do it.
As I mentioned in a previous response, you get paper white/black ink simulation and also a black point compensation enable/disable.
It's a classic ICC profile chain. It does exactly what one would expect it to do.
In Spyder5 software, there's an upgrade path to go from either Spyder5Express to Spyder5Elite+; or to go from Spyder5Pro to Spyder5Elite+; and those users would get soft proofing (as well as many other features, it's not the only one) as part of upgrading to the Spyder5Elite+ software.
In SpyderX software, you get either SpyderXPro or SpyderXElite. There's no upgrade path from the first to the second. The hardware is the same, the difference between Pro and Elite is the software.
The display calibration parameters, as they've always been, are color temperature and luminance. You can use "no adjustment" of screen luminance during calibration and then you'll end up with the specified color temperature at whatever brightness the screen was set to; or you can pick a value and then, either use hardware controls to reduce the screen brightness first (with interactive measurement to help guide you to your self-selected luminance target), and/or let the software do it by pulling down the endpoints of the calibration LUTs during the process.
I'm glad that there are free Mac OS products that provide soft proofing, and also a means to convert images from one profile to another. People should use them, and also be glad. :-)
Best regards,
David Miller
Manager/Lead Developer, Consumer Graphics
Datacolor