Search results for “qr-code”
Felix posted this in the HTC EVO Forums and I thought it would be helpful to ShopSavvy users.
ShopSavvy:
Under Android market menu, you will see an app called “ShopSavvy”. This application does what it says, it scans bar codes. Any items with a barcode can be scanned, and the phone will generate a price. But, that is not the only purpose the barcode scanner serves for! It can also read URL’s!!
The Basics:
I see a lot of people in this forum referring others to download applications in the marketplace. People then have to get their phone, head over to the marketplace, and search for that specific application. When it comes to custom wallpapers, users have to download the wallpaper from the forum, sync the phone to the computer, and then set the wallpaper up. Well, you don’t have to go trough that hassle anymore! I’ll show what you can do so your phone can take you directly to the URL by scanning picture code called “QR-Code”
QR-Code:
A QR Code (“Quick Response”) is a 2D barcode that can store much more information than a standard UPC. Inside a QR Code you can find text, hyperlinks, contact information, geo location, and more. They are capable of storing up to 250 characters. QR Codes have become common in Japan, but have yet to take off in the United States. (Source Wikipedia). Basically what this means is that the barcode scanner integrated in the 4G is capable of reading a coded picture that will tell the phone to follow a set of instructions.
How to create a QR-Code:
No one is able to create a QR-Code on their own. They are all computer generated.
A good QR-Code generator website: http://qrcode.kaywa.com/
How to use this generator:
*The content type: ALWAYS use the URL selection
*The content tab: This is where you will type or paste the URL of where ever you want the phone to be directed to.
*** IMPORTANT NOTE *** – If you are referring a user to download an app from the market place this will be the url: market.android.com/search?q=<substring> (where substring will be replace with the name of the application you are trying to refer)
Ex. A member advices another user that “Pandora” is a good radio program. What the member has to do is replace the <substring> with the word Pandora, and yes, it has to be spelled correctly with proper spaces. The url will look like this
market.android.com/search?q=<Pandora>
* Size – ALWAYS S for SMALL
* Generate – Hit the Generate button to generate the QR-Code
The Result:
This is what you will get:
Using the ShopSavvy Application:
Pull up your application menu and select “ShopSavvy” Once the program is open, hold your phone horizontally and aim the barcode scanner light to the picture on the computer screen. You will see that the barcode scanner will begin reading the QR-Code with green polka dots. After the reading is done, you will see 3 options generate : Open Browser, Share via Email, Share via SMS. Select Open Browser and you will see that I will take you directly to the market place, with Pandora information ready to download. Pretty neat right!
How Custom Wallpapers Can Play A Role:
Yep, I know some people dont like the downloading and then attaching phone to the computer, and sync. Well now the user who created the custom wallpaper can use this method to provide the member with the exact URL to generate the picture right onto his EVO using QR-Code.
Example:
Ryu78 requested svargas05 to develop a custom wallpaper using a canon camera as a logo. Well svargas05 went ahead and uploaded to the forums, and I guess Ryu78 had to download it and sync lol im not sure. But now svargas05 can refer to this method so Ryu78 can get the direct download right of from his phone! (Hope I didnt make it confuse on this part lol)
Here is the QR-Code for the wallpaper svargas05 created for Ryu78
Get ShopSavvy and give it a try Ryu78!
Posted by amuse | June 16, 2010 - 2:27pm | No Comments
Category: Android, ShopSavvy (Android)
Earlier this month ShopSavvy® began supporting QR Codes AKA 2D barcodes. ShopSavvy supports standard QR Code instructions including URL redirection, Phone Dialing, SMS Messaging and Contact Addition. Retailers, brands and advertisers can leverage ShopSavvy’s name recognition and installed base of users (more than 4.5 million as of January 2010) in their QR Code promotions and marketing. This is a FREE program designed as a win-win for marketers and ShopSavvy.
Simply overlay the ‘Scan with ShopSavvy’ badge on top of any QR Code and ShopSavvy users will be alerted that they can scan the code. Users who don’t have a reader are instructed to download our reader (for free) from the shopsavvy.mobi website. To use the ShopSavvy name and graphic you must receive permission (via email) which will not be unreasonably withheld (generally we just want to try to up-sell you). Just let us know how you plan to use our graphic and name and send it to sales@biggu.com.
While consumers will be able to leverage ShopSavvy they will ALSO be able to use ANY barcode scanner than supports QR Codes. LOTS of phones have the ability to scan 2D codes natively – your QR promotion will work on any of these devices unlike proprietary barcodes.
Options
- custom download link, i.e. brand.com/shopsavvy (links to custom version of ShopSavvy with brand’s messaging in footer – 320×36px)
- location aware QR Codes, i.e. we can report GPS (lat/long) to advertiser for each scan.
- custom 1D programs, i.e. proprietary UPC/EAN codes linked to your actions (for agencies who wish to keep their programs proprietary).
- custom art, i.e. on white, on black or in color.
Posted by amuse | January 16, 2010 - 4:32pm | No Comments
Category: QR Code, ShopSavvy (Android), ShopSavvy (iPhone), barcode
In early 2010 ShopSavvy began supporting QR Codes AKA 2D barcodes. ShopSavvy supports standard QR Code instructions including URL redirection, Phone Dialing, SMS Messaging and Contact Addition. Retailers, brands and advertisers can leverage ShopSavvy’s name recognition and installed base of users (more than 4.5 million as of January 2010) in their QR Code promotions and marketing.
Simply overlay the ‘Scan with ShopSavvy®’ badge on top of any QR Code and ShopSavvy users will be alerted that they can scan the code. Users who don’t have a reader are instructed to download our reader (for free) from the shopsavvy.mobi website. To use the ShopSavvy name and graphic you must receive permission (via email) which will not be unreasonably withheld (generally we just want to try to up-sell you). Just let us know how you plan to use our graphic and name and send it to sales@biggu.com.
Options
- custom download link, i.e. brand.com/shopsavvy (links to custom version of ShopSavvy with brand’s messaging in footer – 320×36px)
- location aware QR Codes, i.e. we can report GPS (lat/long) to advertiser for each scan.
QR Code Generator: (coming soon)
Posted by amuse | January 16, 2010 - 4:21pm | No Comments
Category: Uncategorized
Last week we announced QR Code scanning support for ShopSavvy (3.6 on Android) and got a lot of attention at the CES show. About an hour ago my dad posted a question to my Facebook page asking, “Ok, what is a QR code?” I guess most of you have no idea what a QR Code is or why it might be helpful to have ShopSavvy scan the code. I will try to help.
QR codes are two-dimensional codes (as seen on the right) that were created by a Japanese company called Denso-Wave back in 1994 to track vehicle parts during manufacturing. Unlike one-dimensional barcodes that only contain eight to seventeen digits, QR codes can contain up-to 7,089 numeric characters, 4,296 alphanumeric characters, 2,953 binary bytes or 1,817 Japanese characters. This data storage was VERY important PRIOR to the Internet. QR codes were invented about the same time as the World Wide Web and as a result the value of having an ‘un-connected’ barcode that held significant data became less and less important. Sure QR codes proliferated in manufacturing, supply chain applications and shipping, but outside of Japan and Korea their use in consumer applications has been almost non-existent.
So why aren’t they popular in consumer applications outside of Japan and Korea? Largely because if you can scan a one-dimensional barcode with an internet connect device brands, manufactures, retailers and advertisers have more control. They can provide different information to consumers based on time of day, day of week, season, location of user and so on. With a QR code that must be printed they have no control – whatever data existed at time of printing is the data that will be in the QR code. Why would anyone bother to create a code that couldn’t mean different things for different people? You can’t put a price in the QR code – because prices change. You can’t put product recall data into the QR code – because product recalls happen AFTER printing of product packaging. Of course you CAN insert a URL into a QR code and direct a user to a webpage – but you can do the same with a one-dimensional code and almost 100% of products ALREADY have a 1D code. So why are QR codes big in Japan? I think the primary reason is that they can contain 1,817 Japanese characters (Kanji/Kana). Almost ALL mobile phones in Japan have the capability of reading QR codes. NTT Docomo established the de facto standard for encoding URLs and contact information – all using Kanji/Kana.
Previously I have written about why we didn’t support QR codes. Recently Google announced their Google Favorite Places program whereby Google mailed QR code window stickers to something like 190,000 local retailers. These QR codes are tied to Google local search feature and allows the retailer to include coupons and special offers to users who scan the codes. In light of this new feature and its connection to retail shopping we decided it was time to support QR code scanning. ShopSavvy will now scan all 1D and 2D barcodes. Try scanning the code to the right (it is my contact info) and feel free to let me know how you like the new changes in ShopSavvy for Android (iPhone QR scanning support coming later this month).
Posted by amuse | January 11, 2010 - 10:04am | No Comments
Category: QR Code, ShopSavvy (Android)
It has been an amazing year for Android and the Android version of ShopSavvy. Of course we owe a LOT to our partners including Google, T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon. Some of you have suggested we might be focusing too much on the iPhone version of ShopSavvy. Sadly we HAVE been spending a little too much time on it. We are still in our ‘beta’ phase on iPhone (our long term Android users will remember that we went through a ‘beta’ phase on Android too) – we should be stable and fast sometime in January. In the meantime, I am pleased to announce that we haven’t been ignoring the Android version of ShopSavvy! Say hello to ShopSavvy 3.6 for Android (available in market sometime today). Here are some of the changes in 3.6
- QR Code Support - supporting ALL QR codes including URL redirect, contact, phone number, sms, new app install AND Google’s Favorite Places Stickers
- Bug Fix - common Force Close Issue should be gone (other Android developers with same problem should email support@biggu.com to learn how to stop force close from happening when users update apps)
- Logo Clean Up – standardized on new ShopSavvy icon (sticker with curled edge, read more here)
- Internal UI polish – including use of new icons inside of ShopSavvy
Previously I have written about why we didn’t support QR codes. Recently Google announced their Google Favorite Places program whereby Google mailed QR code window stickers to something like 190,000 local retailers. These QR codes are tied to Google local search feature and allows the retailer to include coupons and special offers to users who scan the codes. In light of this new feature and its connection to retail shopping we decided it was time to support QR code scanning. ShopSavvy will now scan all 1D and 2D barcodes. Try scanning the code to the right (it is my contact info) and feel free to let me know how you like the new changes in ShopSavvy for Android. Oh and have a Happy New Year!
Update: Several of you have asked about QR code support in the iPhone version of ShopSavvy. The quick answer it is coming. The longer answer is that we don’t want to overcomplicate our release until we are out of our beta phase. Scanning speeds need to improve significantly. Additionally, it is much easier for us to include QR code scanning in phones that have auto-focus (i.e. 3GS) so it is likely that our first QR release will only support the 3GS and not legacy 3G/2G phones. I would look for a QR code release 30 days after a stable/fast ShopSavvy release on the iPhone. But fear not, we are moving in that direction (see picture).
.
Posted by amuse | December 31, 2009 - 5:05pm | 5 Comments
Category: Android, ShopSavvy (Android), barcode
Recent Comments