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Bring back menus, QR codes are terrible

(slate.com)
527 points lxm | 1 comments | 29 Jun 21 03:25 UTC | HN request time: 0.239s | source
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marapuru ◴[29 Jun 21 12:57 UTC] No.27675145[source]▶
I've had a waiter looking at me puzzled why my phone wasn't able to scan a QR code. I told him already that my camera wasn't able to. But I had to open the camera in front of him.

- "Have you tried rotating the camera?"

- "Try zooming in and out"

- "Why don't you download a QR code app!?"

These questions / remarks were placed by him while showing him it really didn't work.

When I told him I didn't want to download a QR scanner application due to privacy reasons he left with an even more puzzled face as before, to walk inside and finally bring me a paper menu.

These f*cking QR-codes _made_ me an annoying customer.

replies(1): >>27675221 #
m-p-3 ◴[29 Jun 21 13:05 UTC] No.27675221[source]▶
I seriously hope Google pushes their OEM to include QR code support in the builtin camera app.

This should be a default feature.

That said, if you want a privacy-friendly QR Code reader app on Android, Binary Eye is my recommendation.

GitHub: https://github.com/markusfisch/BinaryEye

Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.markusfisch...

F-Droid: https://f-droid.org/packages/de.markusfisch.android.binaryey...

replies(4): >>27675306 #>>27675317 #>>27675406 #>>27675458 #
1. JeremyNT ◴[29 Jun 21 13:13 UTC] No.27675306[source]▶
Thanks for the tip on Binary Eye. I've long used Barcode Scanner [0] from f-droid, which appears to be the origin of the "Zebra Crossing" scanner implementation Binary Eye uses. "Barcode Scanner" is now in maintenance mode, so it's good to have a migration path!

Google really does its users a disservice by not simply providing a decent barcode scanner with AOSP. The lack of such a basic utility makes it so easy for users to install spyware in frustration just trying to accomplish the task (sort of like the early "flashlight apps").

I've long wondered why they decided to make this task so hard - it reminds me of their omission of video output on the Pixel phones, but in that case their motivations are clear (they want to force people to use Cast instead) - I seriously can't understand what their rationale is for making QR scanning difficult!

[0] https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.google.zxing.client.andr...