The development house Big In Japan has just rolled out its 3.5 update to its ShopSavvy Android app. ShopSavvy is the useful app that allows you to use an Android phone’s camera to scan barcodes and get pricing information. More importantly, it allows you to compare prices of that item to prices on the web, where you’ll many times find a better deal. This new update which the team calls “Rodan” offers 1,000 new retailers and 750,000 new products, is better optimized for battery life and is much faster, I’m told.
ShopSavvy, which was one of the original Google Android Challenge winners when it was still known as GoCart, launched with the Android platform last October and has been one of the most popular applications on the device since then. The company claims it now can compare over 20 million products at over 22,000 retailers.
Here are the full list of enhancements the company is claiming with this release:
* More than 1,000 additional participating retailers
* More than 750,000 additional scannable products
* Faster barcode scanning
* Faster, more accurate product search
* Faster load times
* Faster animations
* WiFi and GPS setting retention
* Notification of whether or not an item is in stock or out of stock
* Improved battery life
* Optional registration
* Option to search by title if product is not found
* Google Product Search integration
* Ability to visit retailer Web sites inside or outside ShopSavvy
* Additional polish to user interface
The company has yet to launch an iPhone version of ShopSavvy, a lot of that had to do with the iPhone’s current junky camera that can’t do things like auto-focus. But as we all learned yesterday, that’s about to change. And Big In Japan has been working on an iPhone version for some time.
The concept of using a mobile device to scan barcodes is an interesting one. Others apps in this space have since risen up, and pretty much anyone make their own simple barcode scanner using the Android Scripting Environment. The other day we covered Googler Matt Cutts using a barcode scanner to scan books into the Google Book Search database, but a couple days later, he and some fellow Googlers actually came up with a way to do the same thing with the Android phone.
You can find the new version of ShopSavvy in the Android Market, or download it directly here.
So… “Big in Japan” does NOT develop apps for Japan?
Big in Japan Inc. is the name of our company. If you want to know why, just check out our FAQ:
http://digg.com/u126ls
Thanks Alexander. I looked around your site for the answer but couldn’t find it. I was expecting to find the answer on the “Company” page. As it’s the most common question you’re asked when interviewed, perhaps it should be.
Rather, the answer is on your blog (not an “FAQ”).
Anyway, now with the iPhone and an Android phone in Japan, I guess you’ve got a chance to actually get Big in Japan.
http://en.wikip...i/Big_in_Japan_(phrase)
Thanks Aaron. I’m familiar with the phrase. (But this is not the reason for their name.)
Fitter, happier, more productive.
What’s the iPhone equivalent, or equivalents to this?
We have an iPhone version dropping later this month or early July. Here is a side-by-side comparison of the iPhone version next to the Android version: http://digg.com/u15BRu
I’ve had Shopsavvy for some time. I figured it would die on me, but months later, I still don’t buy any durable good over $10 without checking it.
Looks great~
Android is coming.
nice post! why not visit http://www.sinoyeobd.com?
I’ve used this. It’s crap. The new version is crap and so is the old on. Terrible product.
Ahhhhhh… the competition posts.
Thanks for the post MG!
I am sure retailers all over the country will LOVE this app
Way to go Alex – nerd.
Sounds weird an app claiming improvements in battery life
Apps are one of the biggest power sucks on smartphones. If you don’t build your app right you can screw over a user’s battery performance. We spent a lot of time making sure we impact battery life the least.
Yup, the app is going to be very useful and handy for shoppers to easily check prices of the things they are about to buy. The app is going to convert phone users into shoppers. Shop, shop, and shop.
Only for Android-powered mobile phones?
Soon to be released on iPhone: http://digg.com/u15BRu Also, we are working on Palm Pre and RIM versions.
the big box stores can’t like this at all. Anyone successfully show the screen to a bestbuy rep while asking for a price match?
if someone can put this app together with coupon codes to suggest the lowest price it’ll be the greatest commerce app ever.
Best Buy price matches with ShopSavvy according our experience and the experience of many of our users. We have a deal with Coupons Inc. to offer coupons – taking longer to implement that we had hoped due to redemption issues at the retailers. Hopefully it will be live before the Christmas season.