Android App: Amazon.com

Amazon.com recently released their native Android app and it’s a keeper. With it, you can check your account, cancel orders, view recommendations, and of course buy stuff. But what is really cool about it is that you can use it to save products or “Reminders” for later purchase. Here’s a quick run-through of the application.

First, launch the app and then you’ll find yourself at the home screen, with your recommendations that are pulled from your previous activity associated with your Amazon.com account. (The first time you launch the app, you can sign in) From here you can search for a product or if you are in the store and standing in front of the product but don’t want to buy it right then, you can click on Search using barcodes or photos. This will take you to the Amazon Remembers screen where you can view your saved items.

To add an item into your list, you can take a photo of the product or scan its barcode. The G1 has a really nice camera that can auto-focus within a few inches making it perfect for barcode scanning, but I prefer to use the photo-mode since it’s pretty cool technology. After clicking on the photo button, you just need to line up the product and then click the on-screen shutter button.

You’ll then be asked if you want to use the image or take another one. Once you are happy with the photo, the app will add the photo to your “Amazon Remembers” list.

If it found a match, you can click on the item to see more detail, such as price, ratings, reviews, and the option to Buy Now, Add to Cart, or Add to Wish List. If you’ve enabled the optional “Mobile 1-Click Ordering” feature, you can purchase the item that way as well. Besides the Amazon Remembers feature, you quick access to the Goldbox specials page and your Wish List.

I’ve been using the wonderful SnapTell app which uses the same camera analysis technology as the Amazon.com app, but I’m not sure if I will keep using it. The advantage of SnapTell is that you will get links to a list of retailers besides just Amazon.com, online and local prices (it uses your GPS fix), and also links to other information about the item such as Wikipedia, Yahoo search, and Google reviews. However, with the Amazon.com app, I can save these items to my Wish List as well, which I can access on any computer. For now I will keep both since they each have their plusses.

The only complaint I have with the Amazon.com app is that it is not really built for browsing. You can search for an item, but there aren’t categories to browse. Hopefully they can add something like that in the future.