App reviews: Prisma, Prune

Prisma

Your snapshots are obviously works of art all on their own - but do you ever want to give them a little boost? Prisma takes the concept of a filter and amps it up another level, transforming your photos according to different art styles. Now you can convert a photograph into a beautiful line-art drawing, or draw on the concepts of modern art with something like the "Mondrian" (as in Piet) or "Roy" (as in Lichtenstein) filter. Users can apply these filters as heavily or as lightly as they want.

The app can take a bit of time to process the filters, but that makes sense given that it's essentially redrawing your photos. The company releases new art styles regularly, so even if you aren't that keen on what they have on tap, you may get something you really like down the line. Sure, adding these filters don't make your photos true to life, necessarily, butyou may find one that lets you show off your photos with something that says more about your personality than a standard photo can.

Free, for iOS and Android devices.

Prune

Prune is a darling of the mobile game scene for its minimalist design, soothing music and interesting gameplay. The concept behind Prune is to plant and trim a tree, and then direct its growth to meet certain objectives. Think of it as a bonsai puzzle - the tree can have only so much mass, so you need to trim some growth in one direction to help it move in another. Players are almost always trying to guide their trees into the light, where they can blossom beautifully to complete the level. But you'll have to avoid obstacles along the way. With soothing music and a simple design, Prune tickles the mind.

This is fairly pricey for an app game, even if it is nice, well made and includes more than 40 levels. Players can get some replay value out of the title, through their own initiative to grow their trees in new ways or to hit some hidden objectives that appear after the first playthrough.

$3.99, for iOS devices