Amazon Gets an iPhone App Too

This is going to sound a little redundant at first, but it gets more interesting as we go along, so stay with me. Here's the redundant part: Amazon is creating an iPhone app. Our reaction: So what? They're actually pretty late to the game because so many other companies have already created iPhone apps.

Now for the good part: If you see something you like, all you have to do is take a picture of it and the Amazon iPhone app will bring up the product page for the item in your picture.

Now you can gasp in awe.



Obviously, this claim causes a little skepticism. Is the app really smart enough to distinguish your item of desire from objects in both the background and foreground?

Fortunately, Amazon was smart enough to put the job of identifying what you want in the hands of actual living human beings (although Amazon insists on calling them "Mechanical Turks" for some strange, dehumanizing reason). These "Turks" will look at your photo and find the corresponding page for you.

There are still a few problems with the human model, mainly that humans are much slower than computers. It can take anywhere from 5 minutes to 24 hours to get your results. Yes, you read that right, 24 HOURS!

The other main problem is that humans are still prone to making mistakes. Sure they can tell the difference between a cell phone and a TV, but with a low quality snapshot of said TV, will they really be able to discern that you took a picture of model number SD234QWT6-D instead of SD234QWT6-E?

We'd love to see how it worked for you. Send us an email (to leslie@toptenreviews.com) that includes your picture and the response you got from Amazon.

This holiday season would seem to be the perfect time to try this app out, it's free, after all. So head on down to the store, snap a photo, go home, wait for your response and then decide where to buy the following morning. It's the epitome of shopping convenience ... sorta.

If you want convenience, you should try our Holiday Center. It's got tons of gift lists and a gift selector quiz to help you find the right one. And there are plenty of deals posted each day on the Holiday Gift Blog, so you need not spend too much either.