Google Product Search for Android adds barcode scanning

A few weeks after launching its Google Product Search for mobile, Google is now enhancing the Android application via the addition of integrated barcode scanning, enabling users to more efficiently check prices, reviews and product details on specific items, not just categories of goods. After downloading the upgraded Google Product Search for mobile from Android Market, users can open the app, tap on the Barcode Scanner option and center the red line on their Android handset screen over the product barcode--once the information is successfully read, Google Product Search results will appear in the browser.

"Today, barcode scanning works best for products like electronics, books, movies or video games, but we're working on adding more barcodes for other items," writes Google Mobile software engineer Eiji Hirai on the Official Google Mobile Blog. "Of course, if your scan does not return a result, you can always type in the product name just as before." Hirai adds that barcode scanning is available now for Android-powered devices in the U.S. and the U.K.

For more on the Google Product Search upgrade:
- read this Official Google Mobile Blog entry

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