The Gadgetwise blog of The New York Times has a great piece on the shopping apps available for today's generation of smartphones. The article, Big Shopping App Shootout: iPhone vs. G1 examines the well known issues with bar-codes as well:
I didn’t think the bar code readers would recognize tags at a chain store, because I expected them to have their own proprietary bar codes. But I was surprised when national brands of clothing at a department store didn’t register either.
SnapTell for the iPhone earned kudos from the author Roy Furchgott for its accuracy and ease of use:
The fanciest iPhone app I tried was SnapTell, which doesn’t use a bar
code, but makes a search from a photo you take of an item. SnapTell
correctly recognized the CD from the cover, and returned nine online
prices, starting at $10.65. It should have given results for local
stores but didn’t, so I tried a more common item, the Doris Kearns
Goodwin book “Team of Rivals.” SnapTell not only found it online, but
also at two stores less than 10 miles away — and at a discount.
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