Android shopping apps

Whether you're scoping out Black Friday targets or wondering if that perfect gift is cheaper somewhere else, an Android phone is a great weapon to have in your shopping arsenal. Here are the best shopping companions you'll find in the Market.

Shopper

When you're surreptitiously hovering your phone over a box in a store, you'd probably like to get the scan over as quick as possible. Shopper is remarkably good at finding and locking in barcodes and recognizable products and logos, and also at submitting them to the Google servers for pricing and availability. It pulls up reviews aggregated from many sites, online and local (brick and mortar) prices, and offers sharing, starring, and history to look back through the stuff you've peeked at. Quick, handy stuff.

ShopSavvy

While Shopper excels at quick look-ups through images or barcodes, ShopSavvy sticks to just barcodes, and offers better long-term tracking of things you want. It has a different, and perhaps richer, database of local stores carrying your products, and a wish list section you can divide into groups. When you've pinned down a local price that you wouldn't mind paying, you get phone numbers, mapped directions, and other information on the merchant. It's a more thoughtful scanner app, in other words, one that doesn't leave you feeling quite like a run-and-gun opportunist.

Craigsnotifica (Craigslist)

Sometimes the best deals are slightly used, very cheap, and come with very cheap shipping—free, in fact, minus your cost for gas or bike energy. Craigsnotifica makes your local Craigslist directory easy to browse, and instantly notifies you when something you've kept a search running on appears locally. Best of all, you can reply by email right from your phone to a listing, so you get in first with a good offer.

Milo

Beyond just showing the price of an item, or which local stores purport to offer the item, Milo, based on the helpful web site of the same name, actually shows you which stores have that item in-stock, right now, on the shelf. Not every store, mind you, but Milo partners with dozens of big retailers, covering the majority of the moments you'll want to make sure your trip is worth it.

Dealmap

Groupon, CitySearch, LivingSocial, Restaurants.com—do you really want to keep all these apps and email alerts, just to find the occasional coupon or deal that applies to your neck of the woods? Load up the Dealmap on your phone, and you can see where it's cheaper to buy or eat than it usually is, generally anywhere in the U.S.

Black Friday and TGI Black Friday Apps

Two apps that do much the same job of compiling the copious amounts of leaked Black Friday deals, just with slightly different layouts (and, presumably, a few exclusives and rarities on both sides). If you're thinking of doing the bleary-eyed post-Thanksgiving run, you'll want to have one of these apps to read up on your game plan during the post-meal lull.

Key Ring

After you grab the item, price out the competition, and make it through the interminable checkout line, the last thing you want to do is search your wallet or purse for Best Buy Bonanza Card or PetSmart Eternal Allegiance Rewards tag, or whatever they call those slight discount and bonus card items. Scan them into Key Ring Reward Cards, or punch in the numbers if the code is too worn, and you'll always have a backup you can show the cashier to move things along.