QR-code reader software for Blackberry?

[Redfish24117]

I installed. Beetagg reader on my storm 9530. When I scan I get a "no code detected" errof message. Tried instlalling several times, same result. Any suggestions?

[litig8or98]

BeeTagg is not the greatest. I gerneally have to try scanning 3-6 times before it works.

[Mashimaro8000]

QR Code Scanner Pro is the best! Moreoevr, it is FREE!
Get it from BB AppWorld and enjoy!

[tbeshke]

Ok, so my company is getting business cards with QR codes of our contact information on the back side (not sure why). So instead of giving my cards out and telling people to ignore the bar code, I thought that it would be good to figure out which QR Code Scanner software worked the best so I can instruct inquiring minds accordingly.

The result: none. Let me clarify, when I used the various programs, all but one could ascertain the image alright, but they failed in delivering the information contained within the image to the proper fields in the contact card generated. The program that utterly failed in every way was CertainTeed. BeeTag and CodeMuncher made me take an actual picture, which I find a waste of time an frustrating - just too many steps. QR Code Reader seemed to work best, but again, the data extrapolated from the bar code did not directly correlate to the contact fields on the Blackberry.

Am I doing something wrong here? I feel that it defeats the purpose to "create a contact" if I have to manually re-type everything in the correct location. I would rather take someone's card and just scan it with my CardScan 700. That works 99.9% of the time without manually typing anything.

Let me know your thoughts.
Thanks.

[dupuy]

Originally Posted by tbeshke

Ok, so my company is getting business cards with QR codes of our contact information on the back side ... when I used the various programs, all but one could ascertain the image alright, but they failed in delivering the information contained within the image to the proper fields in the contact card generated.

Am I doing something wrong here? I feel that it defeats the purpose to "create a contact" if I have to manually re-type everything in the correct location. I would rather take someone's card and just scan it with my CardScan 700.

Some of the problem is the limitation of the QR code medium. Although large QR codes can support 4K characters, those codes are unlikely to be readable with most mobile phones - the practical limit for average phones are QR codes that carry 60-80 characters. Because of this limit, using direct encoding of vCard data is pretty limited - instead most people use the MECARD format, which is smaller, but also simpler - so that only one phones/addresses etc. can be given, and most readers seem to place them in the "Home" category (odd since BB defaults tend to be for "Work"). I suspect that your business card is encoded with MECARD and this is the reason for the dissatisfaction you have with the results of scans.

You can see an example of MECARD format at:
mattersofgrey.com/using-qr-codes-for-contact-info
(sorry for the non-URL format, but I don't have enough posts to generate links yet)

You can see an example of a large and complex vCard in direct encoding at:
leifmadsen.wordpress.com/2009/08/27/creating-vcards-with-qr-codes/
- good luck trying to decode it with your phone - ironically the only QR scanner I tried that could decode it at all was CertainTeed, and it just offered to copy the raw vCard data to the clipboard.

Another approach is to use a URI that returns a vCard - this bypasses the limitation on how much data you can actually jam into a QR code - the SPARQcode people have implemented this:
sparqcode.com/msky-blog/2010/01/20/mskynet-adds-vcard-support-for-blackberry-qr-codes/

None of these help you too much, since your cards are already printed, and probably encoded with MECARD. But at least you can think about a better solution for the future.

[cas118]

The other benefit of using a URL to a vCard is that if your contact details change, you can update the online vCard and all the old business cards will automagically have your updated details!

Very handy if an address or phone number changes and you haven't got new cards yet, or folk have your old ones.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[dcbo]

I've read many discussions on the best QR-code readers, tried a few, and I like the way the QR Pro Scanner (Jared) scans in video mode and it seems to scan and decode very well - even large VCards. BUT...

I've found that only MECARDS can be added to contacts, VCards just come up as text. MECARDS don't handle multiple phone numbers, etc.

OK, I could use indirection, but I'd prefer not to. I realise, as dupuy suggests, some other phones could have problems, it doesn't seem to be a problem with text length on the BB. I just encoded a 450+ character VCard as a Version 17 (85x85 EC level M) and it scanned the text perfectly - it just didn't do anything with it !

To put the issue round the other way, you might convince me to make one small MECARD, for ME, but what about all the hundreds of other QR-coded contacts out there I might need to scan with my BB, do we (could we ?) need to restrict the rest of the world to our limited functionality.

My main question is : it is a function of the Blackberry O/S that contacts are so badly supported, or is it the scanner app I'm using ?

It seems to me (as I'm new to the Blackberry App World) there is almost no detailed information from app providers about what their apps actually do : in this case, what keywords (in QR-code) will trigger events (e.g. SMS: works)

No FAQs, no Wikis, no man pages and users stumbling around in the dark trying to figure out what does what, not to mention the nightmare about what information is being harvested, by whom and for what purpose.

(Apologies if I'm barking up the wrong thread, redirect me to another forum if need be)

[kiddcwalk]

Hey is there a way we can add it thru our pc cause i dont have web on mine