When I buy electronics, I like to scan the barcode to price check, do a search for customer and industry reviews of the product, and ask around to see if anyone else has experience with that particular item. Decide.com adds another step to that decision process by determining if you should buy now or wait.

Decide offers all of the functions that I previously mentioned in one app. Users can scan a product barcode in stores and see if there are better prices available nearby or online. But it also provides a quick note about whether you should buy at all today. The app predicts whether prices are likely to fall given a product’s age or sale history, so it might tell you to wait. However, you might be in the midst of sale right now, so the app is just as likely to give the thumbs-up sign and make a purchase now.

Price is not the sole reason to buy a product, and Decide helps make an informed decision. On each product result page, surprisingly informative users reviews are pulled in from BestBuy.com. There’s an average 1 to 5 star rating displayed and technical specs on gadgets to help make a decision. And if you’re frustrated that a new model is announced just after you purchase, there are cautionary warnings that a product refresh with better specs might be on the way.

Once you’ve settled on a product, Decide lists how much it costs at several online retailers (tax and shipping included). Shoppers looking for instant gratification can also get a price comparison of nearby retailers, along with distance or directions from your current location. This is sadly one area that Decide falls well short of ShopSavvy. While ShopSavvy was constantly able to track down local retailers who have products I searched for, Decide returned an “Unavailable” list or showed a bias towards Best Buy and Radio Shack.

The Decide application is a useful utility when shopping for electronics, games, Blu-ray, and various accessories. It doesn’t keep pace with other apps when it comes to price comparison, but as for its overall virtues, the app does a great job of helping consumers choose the right kind of product and the right time to purchase it. Android 2.3.7 or higher is required to use this app. If you don’t have that version, borrow a friend’s phone, download Decide, and choose a phone to purchase that has been updated.

Dreamers, goal-oriented technophiles, and enterprising minds take note – Google has delivered a way to manage those schemes digitally. With the appropriately-named Schemer, users keep a journal of the things that they hope to accomplish and see if anyone else may have the same idea.

Schemer, currently in beta only in the United States, is like a to-do list specifically for aspirations. Users create “schemes” to attend an Olympics, learn a foreign language, get a promotion, or make it into the the Top 1,000 of COD: Modern Warfare 3 players in the world. Other schemers can then say that they have actually done this already or that they want to pull off the same trick.

And that’s where the “community” aspect comes in. Because Schemer links with your Google account, it automatically pulls in your contacts from Google+ and can be a way to discover skill sets or aspirations that you never knew others had. For instance, one of my G+ friends listed “Get 1,000 followers on Google+” as a scheme, which I marked as something that I have done. I then provided tips on how he could do it, the secret being posting cat GIF’s and geek culture meme posts. Meanwhile, I want to learn Japanese, and people who have or are learning the language have provided links to resources that can accelerate the learning process.

Schemer features recommended schemes based on location and categories in which users express an interest, so there’s never any reason to get bored with the app. From a practical standpoint, it’s hard to imagine that most people will succeed at even half of the schemes they list, but the app is interesting because of the potential value for those rare occurrences that you might actually work towards the goal. People always say that they’d like to run a marathon or volunteer, but you’d be more likely to work towards those goals with encouragement from people in circle who have experience in that matter or share your interests. Schemer is not a magic pill for working towards your dream, but it’s a good starting point for getting or giving feedback to make goals obtainable.

At the moment, the service is invite only to United States residents, so not everyone will be able to use it. However, the first 20 people in the U.S. to click this link will be able to get an invite. I ask that you then pay it forward and share an invite link with your fellow Androinica.com readers. (Look on the right side of Schemer.com once you’ve logged-in).

Google was previously rumored to have made an offer for Flipboard, an iOS-only application that brings in feeds from various news source and formats them beautifully for tablets. Google was unsuccessful in the bid for Flipboard, so it made its own.

Meet Google Currents, a “magazine-like editions view” of the news. Currents puts a heavy emphasis on photos and blocks of texts formatted to resemble a digital magazine. Anyone who is a fan of straight lines, minimalism, and quick navigation will probably fall in love with the app. There’s a strong focus on content in Currents, which downloads articles from selected sources in order to enable offline reading. Those articles are then searchable, linkable between each other, and especially formatted. For instance, some publications might include interesting Google+ content, others might have a special section for photo galleries and YouTube videos.

A number of familiar publications are available at launch. Apartment Therapy, Bleacher Report, Celebuzz, The Daily Beast, SB Nation, and TMZ are among the many launch partners (yes, I’m looking into getting Androinica included as soon as I publish this post). Users can also import feeds from Google Reader or see trending topics in Business, Entertainment, Health, Science, Sports, Technology, and World news. Navigation is handled by swiping left and right to turn the page, and readers can use the Android share function to send the information to another app or recommend an article to Google+ followers.

Currents looks good on a tablet and a phone. The app links with your Google account, so library information is synched across devices – and it can be fine-tuned with customization options. The app makes a big first impression and makes me think that some other news reading apps are going to face serious competition. Currents is currently – wait for it – available only in the United States on Android 2.2 or higher. Download link below.

Call me crazy, but I’m really liking the changes made in the latest version of the Twitter app. Sure, I know most of you have pledged allegiance to Twicca, Tweetcaster, or something similar (I’m a Plume man), but there are a few things to love in the latest edition of Twitter for Android.

Today Twitter announced that it was simplifying its products in order to provide better access to content, make discovery easier, and provide context for tweets. The desktop changes will be rolling out soon, but Twitter for Android has already been updated to reflect that goal. The interface has a little more blue and black, rounded edges, and changes that should make it faster and more enjoyable to read Twitter on the mobile. Here are some of those changes.

Home / Tweets

This is your usual timeline/stream of tweets posted by people you follow. Nothing much has changed here other than some visual tweaks and an icon to indicate that a tweet has additional media like a photo. Speaking of which, there’s less reasons to leave the app in the new tweet view.

Replies to a tweet are also seen below, which should cut back on the amount of time spent tapping and viewing. It’s easier to see how people respond to a tweet, and an “In reply to…” link appears in case you want to go to what started the conversation. From this same window, you can see who has retweeted or favorited that message.

Connect

What was previously the @Replies screen is now Connect. This shows your mentions, retweets, tweets someone favorites, and when someone has followed you. This feature has been on desktops for a while and is available now within the app. It also has a search bar for a person or his/her tweets.

Discover

The Discover tab is where users will find trending topics, search for a keyword or hashtag, get suggestions for new users to follow, and browse categories.

There’s also a section called “Stories” within this tab that highlights big news that you may not have heard. Major stories in sports, entertainment, and breaking news are highlighted (both the source that broke the news and the subsequent tweets discussing it).

Me

The Me tab is where users get to be vein and focus on the person they care about most (kidding, of course). It has profile information, direct messages, drafts, saved searches, lists, and a link to change settings or switch accounts – though I’d recommend just pressing Menu from any screen to do either.

After playing with this app during lunch, I think it’s safe to say that this is the best iteration of the official Twitter app yet. Aside from looking better, it’s faster and smoother than I remember the last time I gave the app a shot. It’s too early to tell if people will forsake their existing third-party app for this one, but it makes the best case Twitter mobile ever has. Most people are probably too entrenched in the way their favorite app operates to give it up, but the people who have embraced the official app finally have a stronger case for saying why they stick with the default gateway to tweets.

Photos are running things today at Google following the we’ve-got-our-hands-in-everything-company released updates for two of its most popular apps. Google+ was updated to improve user interaction with photos and videos, while Google Goggles got an upgrade that makes image search so quick that they’ve sort of taken photos out of the picture.

Goggles has a new “Continuous mode” that scans items in the viewfinder and searches Google without needing to actually take a picture. Place the camera over a book, barcode, landmark, etc. and Goggles quickly recognizes what it should look for, so you don’t have to actually take a picture have it stored on the SD card. (Android 2.3 or higher is required for this particular feature.) The traditional “Snapshot” method is still available and is the only way to get search history or translation of text from a foreign language. Sidenote: Google says those features aren’t in continuous mode “yet,” so I’ll be very excited when we someday get live translation in Goggles.

Version 1.7 of Goggles also has contextual text recognition, so you can snap a picture of a magazine or newspaper text and a link to the online version of the article appear (when available). That should make it easier to share with friends or bookmark for later. There’s also a feature to request a more accurate search result, as well as add your own information to search results (more information on that here).

As for Google Plus, the network got an upgrade for better search, communication, and photos. You may have noticed that photographers are really taking to Google+ lately, so it makes sense that Google would make it possible to +1 photos, upload hi-res shots, and re-enable Instant upload for video. Here’s a changelog showing all of the new features. Download links are below.

• Search
• +1 photos
• +1 comments
• High resolution photo upload support
• See if someone’s online and currently typing in Messenger conversations
• Start Messenger conversations by just entering a phone number
• Links to posts or profiles can now open inside of the app
• Instant Upload supports videos again
• Several stability improvements and bug fixes

Download Google+

Download Goggles

Amazon is one of the many companies that offers a price comparison app, but it hopes to be the app of choice with a new promotion that offers discounts to bargain hunters. With its new version of Price Check, customers who scan a product at a store, like Best Buy or Target, can receive a 5 percent discount if purchased through Amazon.

Before you get too excited, there are rules to the promotion. There is a $5 limit to the discount, so don’t think you can go scan a 60″ inch TV and save hundreds of dollars. There’s also a limit for “qualifying products,” meaning not everything in a big box retailer will be available online or eligible for this deal.

That takes away from the appeal of the deal, but remember that Amazon already has lower prices than brick-and-mortar retailers, doesn’t charge tax in most states, and provides free shipping. Getting an extra $5 off a video game, headphones, movie, or digital camera is nothing to sneeze at – especially considering that you don’t have to do much to get it.

• Customers can get the deal by downloading Price Check by Amazon from the Android Market.
• Then on Saturday, December 10, the person can go to a store and scan barcodes to get a comparison between the store price and Amazon. (Or search by typing/speaking the name of a product.)
• The app will then show Amazon’s price and take off an additional 5 percent or $5 off the total price.

The deal can only be redeemed three times per day.

“The ability to check prices on your mobile phone when you’re in a physical retail store is changing the way people shop. Price transparency means that you can save money on the products you want and that’s a great thing for customers. Price Check in-store deals are another incentive to shop smart this holiday season.”

- Sam Hall, director of Amazon Mobile.

Reddit went from being “that struggling site like Digg” to being that site that’s actually grew to be much larger and more popular (according to some traffic-monitoring sites). There’s an incredibly large and highly-engaged community around the link-and-photo-sharing site, as well as the topic-driven subreddits that keep people constantly checking back.

BaconReader has just arrived to become what’s arguably the best reddit Android app, and unequivocally the best-looking app. Available now for Android 1.6 and higher, BaconReader is a light, gorgeous application that organizes content exceptionally well. Aside from a large and rather annoying ad bar – removable through a $1.99 in-app upgrade – there’s really nothing to complain about from a visual standpoint. (Go to Menu > Settings > Remove Advertisements.)

Reading through BaconReader is pretty tasty as well. Not only can users get a well-organized presentation of each thread, there’s a control bar that can hide, save, share, or vote them up/down. Users can also turn off thumbnails, blacklist domains or keywords to prevent them from appearing, and get notifications for comments or replies.

All of the discussions, links, and trolling that makes reedit great are present in BaconReader. Members can manage which subreddits appear and switch views between the What’s Hot, New, Saved, etc., options. Browsing and posting are remarkably easy, and the overall performance of the app is stellar. The only complaints I can levy are that ad bar (again, upgrade to ditch it) and the “Preview” button for loading link content in BaconReader is painfully slow. It’s better to just follow the URL and go about your business. The app loads posts in an acceptable amount of time, but getting rid of thumbnails will accelerate load times

I won’t proclaim BaconReader to be the best reddit client because I haven’t used them all and I know that people are very particular about the way apps meet their tastes. But to be honest, after using this app for half a day, the others will have to really impress me. BaconReader is practically everything that I would expect or want from a reddit Android app.

• Color coded comment threads
• Easy to use, full featured inbox
• Rageface and look of disapproval support
• Search for new subreddits based on name or keyword and subscribe to them

At any given gathering, there are dozens of camera phones capturing moments and recording videos. Each person and clip provides a different angle or element worth sharing, but it’s too time-consuming to view and edit them into one package that everyone can enjoy. HighlightCam Social, a new app available in the Android Market, removes the legwork and automatically creates captivating video using the very clips that you and your friends and family have recorded.

HighlightCam Social uses artificial intelligence to scan video clips and discover which parts of the video make for good footage. According to CEO Robert Neivert, who gave me a demo of the app recently, HighlightCam’s AI can “measure emotional content of the video itself.” Neivert uses the example of the app intelligently editing the footage captured from a youth football game.

“There’s a big difference between a touchdown and shots of the crowd while you’re waiting for the game to begin. In a soccer game, we can generally pick out the goal from every game. It’s not 100 percent, but it’s pretty accurate.”

HighlightCam takes on the role of professional editor and smartly choose not only which clips to include, but which styles and transitions to incorporate. The “social” part of the name comes into play because aside from having quick sharing to social networks, the app can actually import video from authorized users to include in your movie. So if my sister-in-law and brother also record video at Christmas this year, HighlightCam allows me to include the clips that they have authorized for sharing in my video.

The creative process is incredibly simple and can be completed in 3 to 15 minutes.

Step 1: Create a movie and select with photos and videos to include. Users can manually select special effects to look like 300 or Tron color tinting and mood (it actually has the fast and slow-motion-like effects from 300 in the “Sparta” effect.)

HighlightCam then takes signals on what type of clips to focus on. Users can say focus people, action, voice, or mix all three together.

Step 2: Include a music track if you’d like, or just finalize the video so it renders and is made available for sharing. HighlightCam shares to Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube easily.

Step 3: Browse the feed, HighlightCam’s insular network. This is where users share their created videos, adds comments or additional information to clips, and download the raw footage to use a friend’s video in their own creation.

During my testing, HighlightCam fulfilled its promise to create interesting videos without requiring extended time splicing video. It was simple, quick, and reasonably accurate in selecting the portions of video that I would have wanted to include. It’s available for anyone looking to make more exciting home videos, and “no one needs to be a production wizard to use it,” says Neivert.

Download HighlightCam Social from the Android Market. Android 2.2 or higher is required.

A few months ago, Google raised eyebrows when it released a catalog shopping app that supported only the iPad. “Where’s the Android version?” a handful of people asked. Well, Google will finally right that egregious wrong and release the Google Catalogs app for Android tablets.

Available now for Android 3.1 or higher devices in the United States, Google Catalogs does away with the piles of paper catalogs piling up in your mailbox. The app takes many of the famous catalogs that you know – like Anthropologie, Crate & Barrel, Nordstrom, Sephora, etc. – and makes them easy to browse on a Honeycomb tablet. Users can swipe to turn pages, pinch-to-zoom, and tap on a specific area of the screen to get information about a product displayed. The following page will then provide more photos and a link to purchase the item online.

Google Catalogs supports search (well, it is a Google product after all) and can browse by brand or category. There’s a long list of retailers available for clothing, furniture, electronic, and other products. Users can browse or create collages that group interesting items together, bookmark specific pages in a Favorites section, or get notifications when a catalog they love releases a new issue.

We previously covered Catalogue by TheFind as a good alternative to Google’s app, but users can now get a direct comparison between the two. Considering that Christmas is just around the corner, we’re guessing dedicated shoppers will look for a way to modernize their browsing habits with one of the two apps.

Last year, we reviewed 6 Android Shopping Apps for Black Friday and Beyond in an attempt to help you quickly and efficiently hit the mall (or web) to kick off the holiday season. Some of those apps are still great tools to have, but a few new contenders popped up to be your desired shopping app for Android Holiday 2011. Here are a few tools to load up now as you get ready for the shopping blitz kicking off this week.

ShopAdvisor

ShopAdvisor is less about BlackFriday and more about long-term savings and comparison shopping. A user scans, speaks, or writes in the name of a product they wish to buy. Searching for an item, like a PlayStation 3, can return thousands of results, so the app provides options for filtering and sorting to find the right product. Shoppers can then compare how much the product costs and locate deals online or in their local store. But if you’re not ready to purchase at the moment, add it to a Watch List that serves a bookmark. ShopAdvisor will then alert you at a designated time (December 20, for instance) or when an item drops to a certain price you’ve selected ($200). The app is a great tool for shopping with confidence.

Black Friday 2011-Smart Aisles

Smart Aisles will collect all of the Black Friday deals from major stores and have them posted within the app. Users can even plot their Black Friday course as the app shows a map with locations of places offering deals, then lists the specific products that are on sale.

Beyond Black Friday, Smart Aisles is a deal and coupon hunting app. It finds offers from local retailers and sorts them according to value, which takes into account current and former prices, as well as ratings and reviews for that product. Users can search for a product, refine with options, or mark a deal to be saved for later. The app isn’t very pretty, but it’s very efficient. Sign-up for a Smart Aisles account if you want to get personalized deals.

Christmas List

The deals are great, but what about the people for whom you buy those gifts? If you need a way to track gift purchases and make sure you’ve taken care of everyone on your list, checkout Christmas Gift Planner. This app creates profiles for recipients on your lists, then notes how much you want to spend on someone or what specific items you plan to buy. It then updates when you’ve purchased a gift, tracks if it needs to be wrapped, and shows if you’ve gone over budget with one person or collectively. For a detailed, well-planned view of your Christmas shopping, this is a great app to have. Christmas List is free, but if you pay for the advanced feature, you will get the ability to scan a barcode to add a gift, email a list, and password-protect the app to keep the kids from snooping.

Shopkick

Shopkick is a rewards and deals app that provides “kicks” when you visit certain retailers. For instance if you go to Best Buy enough, you may eventually earn enough kicks to exchange them for a gift certificate or discount at the store. Kicks are also earned for purchases and getting friends to sign-up for the service. An added bonus for Shopkick users is that you can link certain Visa credit or debit cards in order to earn a whole lot more kicks when you make a purchase. Link your Visa card to Shopkick and earn more kicks for each qualifying purchase you make at participating stores like American Eagle, Best Buy, Crate & Barrel, Macy’s, Target, Toys R’ Us, and more.

GeoQpons

GeoQpons is an Android app that searches for valid coupons that may be of use to you. Say you’re in Bed Bath & Beyond looking to purchase new sheets, but then you see that there’s a coupon for bath towels and shower accessories. You weren’t looking for those things, but it makes sense to take advantage of the deal that you would have otherwise ignored. GeoQpons lists coupons for stores in your immediate area and makes it possible to bookmark coupons for quick access or reminders about expiration dates. There’s also product search, barcode scanning for price checks, and a calculator to see how much you save.