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Archive for the ‘Android Apps’ Category

Preparing for Ice Cream Sandwich

Posted last year, at the end of September in Android Apps by Brian Griffey

The highly anticipated new version of Android labeled “Ice Cream Sandwich” is rumored to be unveiled at the upcoming Samsung event on October 11th and the ShopSavvy team could not be more excited. The last version of Android, Honeycomb, was specifically tailored to tablets and was never released for phones. With the release of Ice Cream Sandwich, the Honeycomb interface and APIs will be brought onto phones which, according to Google’s developer blog, will allow us to write one application that works for both tablets and phones.

Over the last few months we have been slowly moving ShopSavvy onto the Honeycomb API using Google’s compatibility framework. All of our new features such as ShopSavvy wallet, scans near you, login, and list syncing have all been built for both tablets and phones. We have also reworked all of our older features to take advantage of activities with fragments to display information in an optimal way for every screen size. With the release of Ice Cream Sandwich, Android tablet users will finally be able to get one app to fill all of their shopping needs.

Here’s a few examples of screens on tablets compared to their phone counter parts.

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Android dominates smartphone market AND ShopSavvy

Posted last year, at the start of April in Android Apps by Alexander Muse

For every ShopSavvy user with an iPhone there are four who have an Android phone. Our downloads per platform are maintaining this disparity. We assumed we were just popular on Android, but there is something much bigger going on. Consumers are flocking to Android in droves!

When I first started talking to folks in the Bay Area back in 2008 and 2009 I suggested that Android’s marketshare might eventually overtake the iPhone. I recall one meeting I had with several executive at Amazon who claimed they had never seen anyone with an Android phone. No one believed that Android had a chance – especially when they compared the G1 to the first iPhone (the G1 was a horrible phone). Fast forward to 2011, to quote Henry Blodget, “Android is Destroying Everyone, Expecially RIM, iPhone Dead in Water!”

ComScore is reporting the following market share numbers:

- Google                   33%
- RIM                        29%
- Apple                      25%
- Microsoft                 8%
- Palm                         3%

I mentioned these numbers to some of my Apple-fanboy friends (and even a few folks at ShopSavvy) and their response was along the lines of, “Bullshit.” They don’t believe Android is making the sort of inroads it is obviously making. Our numbers support this trend.

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Android Firmware Breakdown for ShopSavvy

Posted last year, at the end of February in Android Apps by Alexander Muse

Lots of developers complain it is hard to develop for Android. Yesterday, we reported that ShopSavvy is running on 142 different Android (and three Blackberry) phones. You’d think that was the main issue. You’d be wrong. The real issue is the diverse set of firmware Android devices are running. According to our logs there are more than 239 firmware versions running ShopSavvy on Android. Here is a breakdown, sorted by percentage of devices:

Android 2.2	36.70%
Android 2.2.1	29.40%
Android 2.1-update1	27.10%
Android 1.6	4.40%
Android 2.1	0.80%
Android 2.3.2	0.70%
Android 2.2.2	0.40%
Android 2.3.1	0.20%
Android Eclair	<0.1%
Android 2.0.1	<0.1%
Android AOSP	<0.1%
Android Froyo	<0.1%
Android 3.0	<0.1%
Android 2.1-update2	<0.1%
Android 2.1.2-FAB	<0.1%
Android 2.1 (ESE 53)	<0.1%
Android 2.1.1	<0.1%
Android 2.215Fab	<0.1%
Android 1.6 with Laszlo	<0.1%
Android 2.1-update2 (freshhh)	<0.1%
Android 2.1-	<0.1%
Android Itfunz2.1-Beta5	<0.1%
Android SenseHero 2.1	<0.1%
Android Itfunz2.1_Eclipse_NewBegin_Final	<0.1%
Android Itfunz2.1_Eclipse_NewBegin_Final_SP2	<0.1%
Android 2.2-update1	<0.1%
Android 2.1-update1 BitterSweet	<0.1%
Android 2.1-fresh	<0.1%
Android 2.1-update 1	<0.1%
Android 2.1-fresh-toast	<0.1%
Android Itfunz2.1_Eclipse_Exotic_Sentiment_Final_SP1	<0.1%
Android 1.6 – Galaxo V1.6.3.3	<0.1%
Android Hero_2.16_Hiapk	<0.1%
Android Itfunz2.1_Eclipse_Terminator	<0.1%
Android 2.1 Legend	<0.1%
Android Hero_2.17_Hiapk	<0.1%
Android Hero_2.171_Hiapk	<0.1%
Android SDX Google Ultimate Dream 3.0	<0.1%
Android VanillaEclair 4.0	<0.1%
Android Hero_2.18_Hiapk	<0.1%
Android Ultimate Dream 3.2	<0.1%
Android noobnl’s Radioactive Eclair V1.5.5a	<0.1%
Android SDX-Samdroid turbo v4.4	<0.1%
Android noobnl’s Radioactive Eclair V1.5.6	<0.1%
Android Kimera 2.1	<0.1%
Android 2.2_inandroid	<0.1%
Android VillainROM9.0.0	<0.1%
Android 2.3	<0.1%
Android Hero_2.19_Hiapk	<0.1%
Android Froyo 2.2	<0.1%
Android 2.1-update1 (7hero-astar9.2.1.1)	<0.1%
Android Ultimate Dream 5.0	<0.1%
Android 2.1-update1 (7hero-astar9.2.1.2)	<0.1%
Android c-VillainROM12.0.0	<0.1%
Android noobnl’s Radioactive FroYo v1.6.2	<0.1%
Android Android 2.2	<0.1%
Android MR1V4	<0.1%
Android 1.0.0	<0.1%
Android 2.1_Hiapk	<0.1%
Android Itfunz2.1_Eclipse_Terminator_II	<0.1%
Android Interceptor V5	<0.1%
Android noobnl’s Radioactive FroYo v1.8.6	<0.1%
Android Hiapk Taste 2.1	<0.1%
Android FroydVillain1.1.1	<0.1%
Android Itfunz2.1_Eclipse_Terminator_II_SP1	<0.1%
Android noobnl’s Radioactive FroYo v1.8.7	<0.1%
Android 2.1-update1 (7hero-astar9.3)	<0.1%
Android 1.6.2890	<0.1%
Android Red Dawn	<0.1%
Android Titanium X 1.2.3	<0.1%
Android Itfunz2.1_Eclipse_Terminator_II_SP2	<0.1%
Android Itfunz2.1_XT701_Vista_Final	<0.1%
Android 1.6 – Galaxo V1.6.3.4	<0.1%
Android FroydVillain1.2.2	<0.1%
Android 1.6 – Galaxo V1.6.3.4zh	<0.1%
Android FroydVillain1.3.0	<0.1%
Android HebVillain1.2.0	<0.1%
Android FroydVillain1.4.0	<0.1%
Android noobnl Radioactive FroYo v1.8.22	<0.1%
Android SDX-Samdroid Frozen Eclair beta 7 RC 11 for Acclaim	<0.1%
Android FlyX v0.1 Final	<0.1%
Android 0.0.1	<0.1%
Android 2.1CMLMod1.5	<0.1%
Android noobnl-mrbaker’s Radioactive Candy v1.8.7.2	<0.1%
Android 1.9.88.v03	<0.1%
Android Slatedroid Mercury Beta	<0.1%
Android Itfunz2.1_Eclipse_Terminator_II_Final	<0.1%
Android RCMagicv2.1_v2.0	<0.1%
Android MrBang WWE 2.1 release 5.1	<0.1%
Android Epic by Matt4542	<0.1%
Android RCMagicv2.1_v3 TH by TNP	<0.1%
Android 1.9.1.v01	<0.1%
Android Sandra’s Droid	<0.1%
Android Keebler V-SLIM 3.0	<0.1%
Android RCMix_v2.2_WWE	<0.1%
Android RCMix_v2.2b_Asia_HK_WWE	<0.1%
Android WildPuzzleROM_v7.3 base_1.28.1107.2	<0.1%
Android Titanium X – 1.3.0	<0.1%
Android Cricket Eclair 2.1	<0.1%
Android Slatedroid Mercury RC	<0.1%
Android CMLEclair1.0	<0.1%
Android PDAMobiz 2.2 II	<0.1%
Android 2.1 MagxCN 10.1	<0.1%
Android WildPuzzleROM v8.0.4 froyo 2.2	<0.1%
Android 1.9.88.v04	<0.1%
Android noobnl_Andromeda_Galaxy_ROM_v1.1.1a	<0.1%
Android WildPuzzleROM v8.0.6 froyo 2.2	<0.1%
Android zRom 2.3.2	<0.1%
Android SchizoPunk_Epic_Experience_ROM_v1.1.4	<0.1%
Android WildPuzzleROM v8.0.7 froyo 2.2	<0.1%
Android CMLeclair1.2	<0.1%
Android Itfunz2.1_Eclipse_For_XT701	<0.1%
Android Baked-Snack-1.2	<0.1%
Android noobnl-Radioactive-Froyo-v1.9.2	<0.1%
Android firetrap Sugar1.1	<0.1%
Android 2.1 Black Edition by Quarx	<0.1%
Android RCMagicv2.1_v6.0	<0.1%
Android 2.2.1 (FRF91/FRG83)	<0.1%
Android firetrap Vanilla1.2	<0.1%
Android firetrap Sugar1.2	<0.1%
Android noobnl-Radioactive-Froyo-v1.9.3	<0.1%
Android Epic_Experience_v1.2.02	<0.1%
Android WildPuzzleROM v8.0.10 FRF91 2.2	<0.1%
Android Itfunz2.2.1_Milestone_CN_Beta2	<0.1%
Android WildPuzzleROM v8.0.11 FRF91 2.2	<0.1%
Android SDX – rossROM 1.0.3	<0.1%
Android Fancy X4	<0.1%
Android noobnl-Radioactive-Froyo-v2.0pre3	<0.1%
Android WildPuzzleROM_2.1 Eclair v1.0.1	<0.1%
Android Android_2.1	<0.1%
Android 2.1-update1 byxiaojiang	<0.1%
Android 2.1-Á∫ØÂáÄÁâà	<0.1%
Android Heroic.Epic_v1.0.4.1	<0.1%
Android CMLeclair1.3	<0.1%
Android Android 2.1-updated	<0.1%
Android v1.02.04-2010.11.8_public	<0.1%
Android 2.1-update1_Hiapk_1.1_XXKJ	<0.1%
Android 2.1-update1 Black 1.3a04 by joestone	<0.1%
Android 2.1-update1-1.0.0	<0.1%
Android 2.1-UD3	<0.1%
Android v1.02.06-2010.11.12_public	<0.1%
Android 2.2 PDAMobiz V4	<0.1%
Android Relax v2.0.4	<0.1%
Android SyndicateROM_1.0.2_(Shuriken)	<0.1%
Android BasicROM 1.7	<0.1%
Android Fancy X5	<0.1%
Android v1.02.08-2010.11.16_English	<0.1%
Android FroydVillain 1.6 (2.2.1)	<0.1%
Android BladeVillain1.1.0	<0.1%
Android v1.02.07-2010.11.15_Portugue	<0.1%
Android v1.02.09-2010.11.22_English	<0.1%
Android 2.2.1.1832	<0.1%
Android 4.1.1	<0.1%
Android bourineROM v1.1.3	<0.1%
Android 2.2.5	<0.1%
Android WMT2.1.1_105	<0.1%
Android v1.02.10-2010.12.3_English	<0.1%
Android bourineROM v1.1.5	<0.1%
Android Hip-ROM	<0.1%
Android 2.2.Awesome.ButNot.1	<0.1%
Android 2.2 UNI_CN_V880 1.0	<0.1%
Android 2.1-ShunYea-V1.1-Á∫ØÂáÄÁâà	<0.1%
Android WMT2.1.6_105	<0.1%
Android Cricket Eclair 2.1-update1	<0.1%
Android 2.4	<0.1%
Android Vanilla_Eclair_Swift_v2.0	<0.1%
Android WMT2.0_105	<0.1%
Android ANDRO-ID v1.1	<0.1%
Android WildPuzzleROM_2.2.1	<0.1%
Android SUnAaBh.v1.1	<0.1%
Android CleanBuZz_Vanilla_Krang	<0.1%
Android bourineROM v1.1.6	<0.1%
Android Hip-ROM w/ C2Audio1 Black Chrome	<0.1%
Android WMT2.0_000	<0.1%
Android 2.1-rooted-zdz	<0.1%
Android 2.2(Allphone-20101225)	<0.1%
Android 2.0.2.A.0.24	<0.1%
Android CadMan ROM v1.0	<0.1%
Android 2.1-Eternity\|build003 Sempiternal@aioboards.com	<0.1%
Android 2.3 Gingerbread	<0.1%
Android Titanium X – 1.6.0 DE03	<0.1%
Android WMT2.1.2_105_V1.0	<0.1%
Android Shiftr182 Point-Blank ROM v2.3	<0.1%
Android 2.1 -=ShArP sUtEr=-	<0.1%
Android SW_Ging_Rom_V0.3	<0.1%
Android 2.1-update1 – JIT Enabled	<0.1%
Android 2.1-update1 – JIT v1 Enabled	<0.1%
Android NUCLEAR SU-bourineROM v1.2	<0.1%
Android DarkFabX (based on 2.0.A.0.504)	<0.1%
Android BiohzR-Mod OTA Boost	<0.1%
Android Basic ROM 1.2	<0.1%
Android 2.1-update1 – SU – ROOTED – XRecovery v1.a – JIT Enabled – SOFTLOCKED	<0.1%
Android SlapStick V2	<0.1%
Android 2.1-StrabMod-2	<0.1%
Android tRom v0.1.2a	<0.1%
Android RoDrIgUeZsTyLe-MIUIMOD	<0.1%
Android 2.1- X FX10	<0.1%
Android v1.02_14.13-2011.01.08_English	<0.1%
Android Gingerbread "ROM"	<0.1%
Android SlapStick V2.1	<0.1%
Android 2.1-update1 Black 1.4.2.1p3 by joestone	<0.1%
Android 2.1-Dark10 Edition	<0.1%
Android 2.2.1 traducida por IceMan3	<0.1%
Android MIUI-AU for N1	<0.1%
Android 2.1-StraborsMod-Beta2	<0.1%
Android SDX_Samdroid_Frozen_Eclair-9_Beta-1	<0.1%
Android 2.3.3	<0.1%
Android 2.1.5-Strabors&SergioPoverony	<0.1%
Android WMT2.1_105_V4.0	<0.1%
Android 2.1.6-Mod Strabors&SergioPoverony	<0.1%
Android 2.2.1 (FROYO)	<0.1%
Android 2.1-update1 – SU – ROOTED – XRecovery – JIT Enabled – App2sd+Dcsd	<0.1%
Android WMT2.1.6_105_V4.0	<0.1%
Android 2.1- BitSnacker.com	<0.1%
Android 2.1 BitSnacker.com v1.2	<0.1%
Android MIUI-AU \| N1	<0.1%
Android kX10_2.1_R2B001	<0.1%
Android 2.1-update(cedric)	<0.1%
Android Scott’s Droid	<0.1%
Android 2.2.1-DL05-Beta3	<0.1%
Android Ds_Rom_2.2.1	<0.1%
Android 2.3.2-ez	<0.1%
Android Ti-X Transform V1	<0.1%
Android BlueSparks-V5	<0.1%
Android VillainROM 12	<0.1%
Android 2.1 BitSnacker.com v2.0	<0.1%
Android BitSnacker.com 2.1 v1.0	<0.1%
Android 2.2.1-DL05-Beta4	<0.1%
Android 1.6-upate201ACADEV	<0.1%
Android Sillian OS Mobile for HTC G2	<0.1%
Android WMT216_V1.0	<0.1%
Android 2.1 BitSnacker.com v2.1	<0.1%
Android SDX.FROYO.DL25.M900.ROM	<0.1%
Android SDX.FROYO.M900.DL25.ROM	<0.1%
Android 2.2.1-DL05-Beta5	<0.1%
Android Bakpia Cokelat 2.2.1 stable	<0.1%
Android Genocide Kernel 0.2a EB13 1.2GHz OC/UV	<0.1%
Android Basic_DL05_2.2.1	<0.1%
Android Genocide_0.3a_EB13_OC/UV_Kernel	<0.1%

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New Scan Screen on ShopSavvy

Posted last year, at the end of February in Android Apps and ShopSavvy (iPhone App) by Alexander Muse

We have been listening to users comments and feedback and decided that it was time to update the scanning screen on ShopSavvy. This screen is available in our premium version of ShopSavvy, but will be available on our free, flagship versions on the iPhone and Android in the coming days/weeks. The other day I saw a user trying desperately to scan a barcode. She didn’t realize that her iPhone case was blocking the camera. It was then that I realized that we needed more hints. Notice the old screen:

It is very minimalistic. Just four ‘aiming bars’ and no hints. Now see our updated scan screen:

We highlighted the scan area by darkening the background. We included a red line (a throw back to the original ShopSavvy on Android) that users really seem to understand. We also, included a ‘skake to scan’ feature suggested by Fooducate that helps with first time users who want to check out the app, but don’t have a barcode handy. Here is a video:

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Android on BlackBerry?

Posted last year, at the end of February in Android Apps and ShopSavvy (BlackBerry App) by Alexander Muse

BlackBerry users have been bugging us for two years to release ShopSavvy on BlackBerry, but to date they have been disappointed. Well according to ShopSavvy’s flurry logs someone in Waterloo, Ontario (Canada for the geographically challenged oh and BTW it wheres RIM is based) has been running ShopSavvy for Android on various BlackBerry devices. Here are the details:

• BlackBerry 8300 ran ShopSavvy on January 31, 2011
• BlackBerry 8600 ran ShopSavvy on January 17 and 24, 2011
• BlackBerry 8520 ran ShopSavvy on February 7, 2011

Earlier this month Rachel King wrote a ZDNet story suggesting that BlackBerry’s new PlayBook tablet is going to support Android apps. This makes sense since BlackBerry OS can support Java Virtual Machines and it would be pretty easy to compile Android in one of the them.

This is a pretty interesting development. If you have any details please let us know – we would love to optimize ShopSavvy for the new BlackBerry+Android.

UPDATE: Several blogs suggested they didn’t believe this since we didn’t include the Flurry logs so here they are:

149 Comments »

ShopSavvy speed on Android

Posted last year, mid-February in Android Apps and ShopSavvy (Android App) by Alexander Muse

Long time users of ShopSavvy will note a speed reduction in the overall app on Android (scanning speed should be faster). When we first built ShopSavvy (it was actually called GoCart) Android 1.0 had not been released. Rylan and Jason decided that ShopSavvy would work best if we kept 100% of the app in memory and included almost no graphics. This decision meant that ShopSavvy was BLAZING fast compared with other Android apps of the day. Over the last couple of years Android has changed for the better. Recent improvements meant that we could rewrite ShopSavvy using Android Activities (the standard way to write an app for Android) and not take too much of a performance hit. Many users have asked us why we would change the app at all if it was going to take a performance hit – the easy answer is that the next Android update threatened to break ShopSavvy making it unusable. We would love to keep the app running blazing fast, but slightly slower is better than completely broken in our minds. Brian and Rylan spent a lot of time last week tweaking the app to see if they increase performance and they managed to speed it up a bit – download the latest version and see what you think. Of course you can always download the old version of ShopSavvy by searching for GoCart (it is in the Android Market) – the ratings aren’t as good as ShopSavvy because the older version of the app is showing its age…

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ShopSavvy 4.0.5 on Android Released

Posted last year, mid-February in Android Apps and ShopSavvy (Android App) by Alexander Muse

Android owners are really going to appreciate the ShopSavvy 4.0.5 update. There is a dramatic speed increase in the app (especially on the Motorola Droid). Brian and Rylan spent a lot of time optimizing the app – specifically the graphics. They also resolved a few bugs in the barcode scanning function that will speed up scanning and fix the Bit.ly QR code bug. Finally, the live scan feed has been improved so that it doesn’t slow down the phone. Let us know how you like the new update. Download from the market here or scan the QR code to the left.

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PayPal Vet, Matt Weathers, has joined ShopSavvy!

Posted last year, at the start of February in Android Apps and QuickPay by Alexander Muse

Earlier today Scott Baradell issued the press release formally announcing that Matt has joined the team (he has actually been on board for a few weeks). Matt will be working in our San Francisco ‘office’ (not really an office yet, but shortly) with John Boyd our VP of Business Development. Matt is VP of Product with a special focus on our QuickPay 2.0 (augmented payment + NFC) initiatives. Here is the full release:

ShopSavvy, the personal shopping companion for smartphone users, today announced that it has brought on Matthew Weathers, former product lead for PayPal Mobile, as vice president of product. Among his responsibilities, Weathers will lead the development of ShopSavvy’s mobile commerce strategy, including QuickPay, which enables ShopSavvy users to purchase the products they scan without ever leaving the application.

“IE Market Research projects that purchases made via smartphones in the United States will exceed $40 billion by 2014, and ShopSavvy intends to be a driving force in this fast-growing market,” said Alexander Muse, co-founder of ShopSavvy. “Matt Weathers, who ran the product team and strategy for PayPal Mobile, is an ideal choice to lead this effort.”

In January, ShopSavvy introduced QuickPay 1.0 on both the iPhone and Android smartphones. The feature enables consumers who find great deals to easily buy an item on the phone and have it shipped home. QuickPay 1.0 uses PayPal, but in the near future, the company will unveil QuickPay 2.0, which will also support credit cards. QuickPay 2.0 will also become a wallet to enable point-of-sale purchases via near field communication (NFC).

“QuickPay will allow ShopSavvy users to use the app as an integrated wallet, making purchases from both local and online retailers without needing cash or a credit card in hand.” Weathers said. “I am excited about the opportunity to develop this element of ShopSavvy as we work to extend our lead as the No. 1 app for shoppers.”

In QuickPay 1.0, when ShopSavvy users scan a product barcode, the application performs a product look-up and returns pricing information from local and online retailers. Participating retailers will automatically display a QuickPay button that users can click to access PayPal and complete the purchase.

Upon its release, QuickPay 2.0 will expand these payment capabilities to serve as a fully featured, integrated wallet. Not only can ShopSavvy consumers store credit cards and bank accounts in their wallet, but they can save money overall by also storing coupons, gift cards, instant rebates, loyalty cards, and cash back rewards in their QuickPay wallet. With a simple and secure PIN entry, users can quickly buy items to be sent home or purchased at a point of sale.

Weathers, who will be based in ShopSavvy’s Bay Area office, was part of the founding team for PayPal Mobile. He led the mobile product team for four years and built out the product suite for three business lines: P2P payments, eBay mobile checkout, and mobile merchant services. Prior to that, Weathers worked in PayPal’s merchant business on ecommerce checkout flows and some of the first large merchant integrations. Most recently, he led the product strategy for the turnaround of eBay France, which relied heavily on local commerce. He has an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley and a bachelor’s degree from UCLA.

1 Comment »

No more ShopSavvy in Egypt. . .

Posted last year, at the end of January in Android Apps and ShopSavvy (Android App) by Alexander Muse

Most ShopSavvy users in Egypt (yes, there are Egyptian ShopSavvy users – mostly on Android) will NOT be able to use ShopSavvy. As you may have read, the Egyptian government has ordered ISPs to shut down international connections to the Internet. We are still getting some traffic through one ISP (Noor), but 99% of the normal traffic from this country of 80,000,000 people is MIA. Hopefully connections will be restored, but in the meantime our Egyptian friends on their own – our prayers are with them.

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ShopSavvy 4 on Android is LIVE! Download NOW!

Posted last year, at the end of January in Android Apps and ShopSavvy (Android App) by Alexander Muse

We are pleased to officially announce the release of ShopSavvy 4 on Android is released. ShopSavvy was original smartphone shopping application and one of the first 10 apps available in the Android market. The original version of ShopSavvy was built BEFORE Apple launched the iPhone App store and was the winner of Google’s Android Developer Challenge. Today, the application is one of the most downloaded apps on Android with over 10 million users. While ShopSavvy is popular on the iPhone (top 100 overall app), for every iPhone user we have 4 Android users. ShopSavvy 4 is a complete overhaul of the original application – almost one year in the making. (Oh and before you ask, we renamed the old app GoCart and you can download it here or get it from the market to keep using the original version of ShopSavvy). Writing a story and need pictures or video? Download our presskit for pictures or visit our digital newsroom for video.

Major Look & Feel Overhaul. ShopSavvy 4 on Android offers users a completely revamped design leveraging all of the latest Android elements and features. The new updated look is clean and crisp offering Android users an arguably better user interface than their iPhone counterparts. The Springboard, seen to the right, is modeled on the Android Market and has been a huge hit with beta testers who rave about the ‘scans happening right now’ feature which allows them a glimpse into the shopping activity of other users.

Deals, Live and Local. While users rave about the new Live Deals constant stream of product deals found by other users, they are also enjoying Local deals from our various partners including Groupon. Today there are deals offering users a chance to win everything from laptops to iPads simply for scanning everyday products. (European users will be glad to note that you can disable live deals in settings to save bandwidth – metered data is expensive)

New Scanner Technology. ShopSavvy 4 offers Android users the same scanning technology we originally implemented in our iPhone version (the SDK is available to any Android or iPhone developer for free). The new SDK is almost twice as fast as our original implementation. Approximately 20% of Android users have phones with fixed focal length cameras that render almost all scanner apps useless. Our latest technology supports BOTH fixed focal length and variable focal length cameras – scanning all 1D and 2D barcodes. Our secret is a combination of on the phone scanning AND server side scanning – the combination allows us to double the speed of each scan while supporting all camera types. Users can now scan barcodes upside down, sideways or right side up – 360 degree scanning.

Enhanced Product Coverage. ShopSavvy 4 on Android allows users to leverage the latest version of our product/retailer catalog called PriceNark 4 (an upgraded version from 3.2 the previous version of ShopSavvy used). Product coverage is now 50% greater and includes local inventory from hundreds of local retailers in the US and Europe. PriceNark 4, while much like local search engines like Milo or Krillion, also leverages product and price data from other users – each minute more than five prices from local retailers are entered by users making PriceNark the most complete local search engine. Users are notified of local inventory through the use of the ‘blue dot’. Whenever users see the blue dot next to a retailer you know they have it in stock (stocking status provided by retailer).

More Complete Social Integration. ShopSavvy 4 now includes product and list sharing options for Facebook, Twitter and email allowing users to pass along deals to their friends.

Battery Life Improvements. Android users who monitor battery usage will note that ShopSavvy 4 uses just a fraction of the battery life that the original version consumed. (Of course this means we might not get your location as quickly, but we let you add your ZIP – US only – and we will assume you are there until we get your actual location)

App to SD Card. The second most requested feature from Android users was the option to run the app from the SD card. ShopSavvy 4 gives the user the option of running the app from the device or the SD card.

Search Widget. Many Android users leverage app ‘widgets’ to keep app functionality at their fingertips on the home screen. The new version of ShopSavvy allows users to install a keyword search widget on the home screen. Just type in a product or upc and ShopSavvy will let you know which local and online stores carry the item. (For those of you who have been asking, we turned on the hardware search button found on many newer phones – it now turns on keyword search)

Enhanced Retailer Information. ShopSavvy 4 delivers LOTS of information about the retailers who carry the products user scan. Users can call the store, get driving directions, visit the website or find out the price matching policy of the retailer. See a product cheaper somewhere else? Save gas and just check to see if the store you are standing in will match the lower price you found elsewhere.

User Generated Content. The MOST requested feature from users was the ability to add/edit products. From the picture to the title users wanted to be able to ‘fix’ or customize products. Now any user can edit the product image and title of any product. We have more than 22,000,000 product photos in the system and users are adding more than five a minute. Just click the ‘edit’ button in the top right corner of the product screen. You can also add retailers and prices if you wish – paying it forward to another user who might be shopping for that item in the future.

AdOns. Enhanced product experiences and information is available via our HTML5 sAdOn framework. AdOns leverage video content, Facebook integration and gaming modalities to help users learn about the products they scan. From health tips, allergy alerts, movie/game trailers to reviews – AdOns help create a more complete picture of a particular product.

Writing a story about ShopSavvy on Android (or iPhone)? Here is our presskit. If you want some b-roll video of people using ShopSavvy check out our digital newsroom.

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