Help barcode scanner

[MSCOFF]

on a tab 2 4 ver. 4.1.4, I put in an app to scan barcodes on food lables (Fooducate) but the camera won't " take" the picture. The app works fine on my Galaxy S 2. Any thoughts? Does the tab 2 do barcodes ?thanks.

 

[AnciusD]

Does the tab 2 do barcodes ?thanks.

Not well, the reason is that the camera on the tablet doesn't auto focus. I read elsewhere where someone tried using a magnifying glass in front of the lens with some success:

Here is a "fix" which makes it possible to use the Galaxy Tab 2.0 as a barcode scanner. Basically, you need a magnifying glass. You hold the glass against the tablet camera lens, and then move the tablet close to the barcode (or qr code). I use a 5x glass, but suspect a 2x or 3x would work too. I'm using "QR BARCODE SCANNER", but suspect this works with most any scanner. I end up holding the tablet 2 to 5 inches from the barcode. If you use a 3X glass, you will have to hold the tablet farther from the barcode.

The glass only needs to be big enough to cover the camera lens, and so you can get a small pocket magnifier. Since the camera is fixed focus, you can focus on the barcode by simply adjusting how close you hold the tablet to the barcode. The tablet will read the barcode very quickly as you move it into focus, so you don't need to work hard at focusing.

The 5x lens works very well for the usual size barcodes which are one or two inches wide. For larger labels with 4 inch wide barcodes (like a shipping labels), you may need 3x or 2x.

Note added Feb 26:
Today I received an 8x lens, and because glass is closer to the camera, I have successfully scanned even larger labels. So, apparently you can use higher power lenses than 5x. Here is the 8x one (SE Folding Magnifier 8X):
Amazon 8x Magnifier
Source

 

[AnciusD]

Last night, I did a quick test of pic2shop (free version), a barcode scanner app that claims to work with fixed-focus cameras like the tab. Seems to work pretty well so far. You can also use a keyboard to type in barcode numbers, too.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.visionsmarts.pic2shop

 

[ehenchal]

I can confirm that pic2shop worked very well on my Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0