Barcoo Mobile App For iPhone, Android & Other Platforms Comes To The UK

Written by Rob Nichols on September 4, 2010 · Filed under Software 

As of Thursday, users in the UK will be able to get their hands on a free app called Barcoo. Unlike many mobile applications these days, this one is no exclusive to iOS, or Android for that matter. It will be available on a wide range of platforms including Symbian and selected other mobiles, but immediately from launch will be for iOS, Android and Samsung’s Bada OS.

So What Is Barcoo?

Well, you may or may not have guessed from the name, but Barcoo allows users to scan the barcodes of items in shops using their phones camera in order to receive a detailed listing of information, including customer reviews, sustainability information, price comparison and environmental ratings.

Currently the mobile app works with food items, cosmetics, electronics and media products, such as CDs, DVDs and books, which itself is a pretty comprehensive list considering I imagine combined they make up a hefty proportion of the total money spent in the UK anyway.

Other Features

Now this app is not really anything new, I mean barcode scanners have been around for a while even as applications in smart phones. However, the implementation of the app onto the old fashioned mobile phone as well as a huge range of smart devices is pretty rare for a decent app these days, but more importantly what else it brings to the table that its rivals don’t?

Well, for starters there is the social side of things. You may be getting fed up of anything and everything being linked to Facebook or Twitter (let’s face it, who saw Ping coming?) but the developers aren’t as it allows not only you, but them the chance to get their name out there with potentially hundreds, if not thousands, of friends or followers.

So, Barcoo enables user to take photos of the product, upload them to Facebook or other networks and recommend (or not, as the case may be) any particular product supported by Barcoo. You can give it a rating as well as adding in nutritional value, or just your own standard comments.

How Do You Get It?

Well, the traditional method of the App Store, Android Market etc. is best for now, but when the app gets launched on other mobile devices sadly lacking in app store (how did we ever survive before?), then you can visit the Barcoo website, enter your make and model and then your phone number and have a link sent straight to your phone for download.

The app itself has actually been in existence for a while now in Germany, where it has become one of the most popular mobile applications with over a million downloads to date. Receiving several million monthly scans already on the continent, before the Barcoo mobile app has finally washed up on our shores.

If you like this page, please share it with your friends! :)