Picture worth a thousands words ... and prices and reviews

Sunday, August 22, 2010

With the new technology on many Android cellphones that are able to scan barcodes, the creators of phone apps are jumping on board to release different ways to use this feature. One free application is SnapTell which not only scans barcodes and directs the user to a web search, it specifically finds related content. It focuses on media products such as books, movies, music, and video games, but will also generate a Google search for other products. Say you are scanning a video game, you can find comparable prices online and even purchase it right from your phone to lock in the lower price! Besides the price, you will also find reviews of the game online and this may help you determine if you really should buy the product or not. Find out what other people are saying before you take it home! Also, it will direct you to searches of the product on YouTube and you can find videos or screen shots of the game.

The SnapTell application takes the barcode scanning feature and makes it user friendly, convenient, and extremely helpful. While other applications will just scan the product and take you to a search of the product online, this one focuses on what you would want to see for certain products. The results differ based on the type of media you scan and it will work with other products as well, but works better with media products. On the application, it gives you the option to build your own library with snapshots of covers and barcodes that have been searched and can be looked up later. If the item does not have a barcode, you can also take a picture of the cover and the application will even scour the web for the product that way!