Shop Smarter, Save Money with ShopSavvy for Google Android Phones

Lots of applications for the Android platform have made my life easier...but none has changed how I do something as much as ShopSavvy. This little gem of an application turns any Android powered handset into a portable and powerful barcode scanner that truly does help you shop smarter and save money!

Installation is easy enough: just search for ShopSavvy in the Android Market and you should be able to grab the application in no time at all. After installation, open the app by tapping the ShopSavvy barcode icon in the applications tab.

ShopSavvy for Android offers several ways to help the consumer shop better. The first--and most touted--tool is item look-up. By tapping on the "Search for product" menu item on the ShopSavvy main screen, you'll be able to scan the barcode of virtually any product. Once the Android camera has detected the barcode, search results will begin to fill in, providing you with pricing information for the product in local stores and on the web. This is a great way to quickly see if you're getting the best deal on product.

Tapping on results in the "Web" menu provides the option to go directly to the webpage that's selling the item. You can also email the link, share it on Facebook, or post it to Twitter...all straight from ShopSavvy for Android. ShopSavvy can even automatically post everything that's scanned to Twitter, if you'd like!

The "Local" view in ShopSavvy for Android is also pretty slick. Stores with the product you searched for are displayed in a list, sorted by proximity to your current location. Tapping on an entry will take you to the store's website and provide one-click options to call the store or look up directions via the Android Maps application. You can also easily look at all of the "Local" ShopSavvy results on a map.

In addition to straight product lookup, ShopSavvy can monitor the price of any product in its database and can send you an email alert when the price drops to a point you specify. Of course, you can also see all of your price alerts straight from the ShopSavvy home screen.

Let's not forget the History and Wishlist functions in ShopSavvy! With History, you can easily find any product you scanned with ShopSavvy in the past, with all search results sorted by date. The Wishlist is especially cool, as it allows you to group scanned products into groups. It's also possible to look up items manually. This way, you can check and see the best price on your most wanted items anytime, anywhere! I'd even more impressed if the Wishlist function could integrate with my very detailed and comprehensive Amazon.com wishlist.

ShopSavvy is hands-down one of the most polished and useful applications for the Android platform. No shopper should be without it!