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).

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