PricePad ($1.99)
Version: 2.1
Review – “Save money by comparing prices on the go!”
If you’re like most people you like finding bargains, but you don’t like spending the time it takes to find them. Well what if there was a way to instantly compare the prices of what’s in front of you with the entire internet from your mobile device? I’m happy to say that “there’s an app for that” and it’s name is PricePad!
One of things that I asked myself when I downloaded this app is “what makes this different from the other 
barcode scanners I’ve seen?” Why? Because there are already a lot of good scanners out there that have great interfaces, and plenty of features! Because of that I’ve tried to reflect some of the things that I feel might set this app apart from its competition.
When you open PricePad the first time you’ll start out on the “Add Item” screen. From here you have two options: Type in your item name or barcode, or Scan a barcode. While almost all bar-code scanner’s I’ve used 
allowed me to enter in the UPC code if you have trouble scanning it, most of them did not offer an option to search by “item name.”
At first I was skeptical as to how well a feature like searching by item name would work, but I was pleasantly surprised! When you choose to search for an item by name it asks for how much the item you are looking at is being sold for and what store it is being sold at. With this information it is able to sift through all of the search results, and only display those that are most relevant!
Something important to look at with any barcode scanning app is how accurate the actual “scanner” portion of the app is. I had great results with the scanner in this app. The only problems I ran into seemed to be when trying to scan some of the smaller less conventional app codes, or if I had insufficient lighting. Something else I found through a little trial and error is that if the item I was trying to scan was setting down on something it was much easier to get the scanner to work than if I was holding it.
Once you actually get an item entered in or scanned the store results are excellent. This portion of the app is pretty much entirely powered by Google. The good thing is that the results are both very accurate and also very detailed. The bad thing is that there really isn’t any form of “app interface” with this. What I mean by that is that the screen you look at after scanning an app is basically a webpage that has been 
crammed inside this app. This is not a huge deal, but it is noticeably slower than some of the interfaces that I have seen in other similar apps.
The lists feature of this app is yet another really well thought out idea. Like most other barcode scanners all of your search history is recorded and saved in this app. The catch is that it is also placed into various categories to make it easier to find! By touching the “List” button in the menu at the bottom of the screen you’ll be taken to a list of various categories with a search bar at the top. From here it is easy to search for items by its name, UPC code or to browse them by category.
The final option in the menu at the
bottom of the screen is the “More” option. From here you’ll get some basic information about the app, as well as a video showing you the basics about how to use it. At the bottom of this screen there are a couple of options that you can toggle on and off. These allow you to do things like set it so that the “scanner” automatically loads up when you open up the app and setting the default “Price Comparison Service.”
All in all this app is solid. Like any app it has it’s strengths and faults. The strengths of this app lie in its ability to accurately find the item that you are looking for. It’s weakness is that it is probably not as quick as a few other apps that I’ve tried. I think that any day of the week I’d prefer accuracy to speed and so I think the choice is clear. So what are you waiting for? Head to the App Store and check out PricePad for your iPhone today!
- David H.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Developer – Blue Ring Mobile LLC
URL: http://www.blueringmobile.com
© 2010, Davidh. All rights reserved.