Barcorama 0.8a – barcode reader software for Windows Mobile
NOTE : This app is under development and a test build of the app was put under review. A new version 0.9h is available that might address some of the issues. The app was tested on an HD2 which is a rather new device and the app is a bit old, so it might work better with some older devices.
Barcorama is a simple freeware application for Windows Mobile devices developed by the xda-developers user hypest. The application is still in development stage but it is possible to test the alpha-version of the program. This software is based on the ZXing barcode reader software which is an open-source, multi-format 1D/2D barcode image processing library. This library includes all common barcodes like UPC-A, UPC-E , EAN-8 and EAN-13.
Barcorama
The installation of the app occupies only 273KB of your storage. Probably the developer kept it very simply. This presumption is confirmed after the first launch. The GUI (Graphical User Interface) looks like “not finished” or “extremely simple kept”. Black screen with only three soft keys which are big enough to be used without touch pen. As HTC HD2 user this case makes me happy. Before start testing the barcode scanner, I press More and it appears a second simply kept menu. At least when you open the settings menu you will need to pull out your touch pen (if you have one).
Here you are able to change some general settings. Not all do what they should do. This might be the reason of the early stage of the program. “Live scanning” option causes a system error after that the application crashes. Further the option to change the internet explorer as program to run does not work in connection with the opera 9.7 browser.
After a short press on the “Start” soft key the app launches the camera of the device. Now you need a steady hand to take a sharp picture of the barcode. After some times you realize how to get the best barcode photo. At the beginning it is not clear how to hold the camera and which distance you should keep. You might miss the typical red scanner line, I think it should work with the “live scanning” setting. Unfortunately this setting crashes the application. Only after several tries I succeed and I see a popup which offers me to run external program. This is not incomprehensible why I have the option to press “No”. After this action nothing happens. After automatic launching the internet explorer the application connects to Google and uses the barcode number as search keyword. ( Update 14/02/1010 : The popup asking to run the external program (iexplore – google by default) can be disabled in the settings , here are some configuration options you can switch browsers using these : Forum thread )
barcorama
Unfortunately my success rate was not really good. It was difficult to take a scanable photo of a barcode. Often I got the massage “No Barcode” even if the photo was sharp. Though this version failed to impress us, the future versions of this app is something to look forward to.
Screenshots :
Tested On : HTC HD2
Pros :
- the app has a lot of potential if the bugs are ironed out
Cons :
- many bugs
- Small settings menu
- No good GUI
- Difficult to use
Possible Improvements : very important is to improve the functionality of the application, the success-quote should be much better to become a powerful application. The bugs should be fixed till next version and the “live scanning” option should get to work, it might be the most important function of a barcode scanner.
Windows Mobile App : Barcorama
