Developer: Digital Arch Design
Price: $1.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0
Device Reviewed On: iPhone 4
Pris is the latest app vying to be the ideal replacement for Apple’s stock camera app. Unlike others, it does away with detailed UIs and complex features, instead focusing on simplicity and the photo the user intends on taking.
The most notable absence for Pris is its lack of buttons. Everything is conducted via swipes, while a tap of the screen takes the picture. This ensures that there is plenty of room for viewing the surroundings before taking a shot.
An overlay initially describes what each gesture does. Swipes to the left or right invoke a manual mode which can be used to set the focus and exposure. Such a control system doesn’t dispense with power either, as it’s possible to set the two individually with an appropriate drag on the screen. Fine tuning is easy to do and quick to figure out. The automatic mode works similarly intuitively so it takes hardly any time at all to take a snap. This works well with the speed in which the app starts, making it an ideal tool for taking that opportunistic snap.
Other features involve the ability to divide the viewfinder into thirds, a live histogram and the ability to export to Instagram. Both still imagery and videos can be taken with the app, with features such as the histogram available for the two types of shot taking.
Pris further adds to its array of essential features by including the ability to view exposure information such as f-stop and shutter speed, after capturing an image. One other great task is being able to turn the iOS device on its side and immediately be able to take panoramic stills in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio.
Pris treads that fine line between seeming almost too simple to providing everything a regular photo snapper could need. It feels a little unusual to be so reliant on gestures for photography but it works well. Extra social networking functionality will be convenient in the future, but for now it’s still a very useful app.