Cheeky phone app

[dryfter]

I found this phone app that is so cheeky - "SnapTell"

You take a photo of something, (either the front of the item, or the barcode) and then it looks up the item online.. somehow.. and then gives you some reviews of it.. and links to online shops' prices.. and prices of shops near you selling it and their price.

I presume their business model is that they get a kickback if you follow a link through to, say, amazon and buy the thing.

But it's such a cheeky way to haggle in stores, I mean, you could almost instantly say - hey, I can get this item for *click* *pause* this much just around the corner! Will you match it?

Comments

[strawberryfrog.livejournal.com]

Sounds like ShopSavvy. Or Compare Everywhere.

[nicky-j.livejournal.com]

Holy crap I've been wanting something like these for ages :-)

[wintrmute.livejournal.com]

Ah.. yeah, exactly like them :)

[strawberryfrog.livejournal.com]

I have them installed, and for all the coolness, I haven't used either in anger yet.

[wintrmute.livejournal.com]

The thing that freaks me out is that the photo recognition even works for O'Reilly books when you've obscured all the text..

ie. It can pick out the correct book just based on the animal picture on the front cover!

Ditto coke cans and apple mice. (a couple of other things around the office I tried it upon)

[strawberryfrog.livejournal.com]

that's cool. The other two that I linked are just basically bar-code scanners connected to a web product search.

I'd guess that the image is sent to a server, and the heavy lifting is done there?

[wintrmute.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it seems to upload it somewhere then pause for a few seconds.

[fnoo.livejournal.com]

It turns out Dick Smith employees aren't that impressed when you load up the CPL or MSY catalogue while trying to buy a USB flash drive.

"Yes.. I could pay you $50 now.. or I could wait until I ride home and get it for $20"

[wintrmute.livejournal.com]

Bah, if they're gonna have price-match-guarantees, they should expect people to use them sometimes ;P

[phroggiepuddles.livejournal.com]

I hate it when you have a franchise, and the online price varies to the shop price... it's not good business practice *nod*

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

Does it work if you take photos of chairs, or trees, or people?

[wintrmute.livejournal.com]

not on the things I tried; but then, maybe those people weren't for sale?

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

Maybe you need to photograph their souls. Can you adapt your phone for that?