Use Brickset and your Android phone to identify collectable minifigs

 

  • Use Brickset and your Android phone to identify collectable minifigs

    Posted by Huw, 29 May 2010 17:33. Filed under Brickset.

    While my family are watching the tedium that is the Eurovision Song Contest I've been beavering away on the barcode functionality of the mobile site.

    I have enhanced it so that, if you are logged in and you scan a barcode which is not in the database, it will prompt you to enter the number of the set you've just scanned. This should help build up the database quickly, I hope.

    Also... while testing this functionality, I scanned all the barcodes for the collectable minifigs (both European and North American) so you can now use Mobile Brickset to find out what's inside the packet before you buy!

    Unfortunately the barcode scanning only seems to be working on Android phones at the moment, so if you have something inferior made by a fruit company, consider upgrading to something decent (ducks for cover.... :-) )


    31 comments, latest one posted 35 months ago. (Commenting has ended on this article)
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Comments

Posted by atkinsar in United Kingdom, 29 May 2010 18:40

Well now, that would come in useful for series 2, hope someone comes up with a solution for the iPhone.

Posted by BionicleBOOM in United States, 29 May 2010 19:26

iPHONE BEATS ANDROID!!! =D

Anyway, hope you come up with a solution soon, I don't use it but other ppl might.

Posted by c.lee.r in United States, 29 May 2010 22:26

my hammer beats your phone anyday. hammer+phone=pieces
just kidding.
can the android transform?
can IPhone home?
not a cell phone user just use 2 cans and a string.

Posted by nexus15 in United States, 29 May 2010 23:58

"mobiletag" in the windows mobile phone marketplace also seems to do a great job of scanning and identifying most of the minifigs (USA barcodes tested). I believe it uses amazon.com for the database backend.

Posted by collectormom in United States, 30 May 2010 00:21

Yes an iPhone version would be sweet. Still need to get the 3 we're missing

Posted by minifigforlife in United Kingdom, 30 May 2010 00:47

This is great Huw. The site is going from strength to strength.

Posted by Lizardking in Austria, 30 May 2010 05:58

Thx Huw. Love the new feature.

Just scanned all my 2010 sets with a HTC Legend. Will be adding old sets too.

Is there a way to see which sets are scanned yet or which need to be scanned?

Posted by fubuki in Japan, 30 May 2010 08:14

Im having a problem getting my 2 cans and a string to scan the new sets. I use a tomato and cream of mushroom combo.
How are you managing this, c.lee.r?
Help please!

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 30 May 2010 09:42

@Lizardking, not yet, but I'll add something, probably on the main site. However we need to be cautious about showing those that already have codes because sets have at least two EAN numbers: one for NA and one for the rest of the world, at least.

Posted by Lizardking in Austria, 30 May 2010 09:47

thx for the reply, my EANs are all from german/european boxes.

Posted by Noworrys in Germany, 30 May 2010 11:14

Just tried it with GERMAN bags. Doesnt work for me :(

Posted by Noworrys in Germany, 30 May 2010 11:24

SORRY, everything back to start! Works fine. But i had to peel of the corner wich covers the code ... maybe the toystore staff will not be pleased with that...

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 30 May 2010 11:27

@Noworrys, yes they are slightly awkward to get to, aren't they!

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 30 May 2010 11:36

@Lizardking, thanks for scanning those! We have about 150 EANs in the database now, about 75 each of US and RoW.

Posted by Noworrys in Germany, 30 May 2010 12:08

I'll try the "open field" (:P) use tomorrow if my time after work allows it. Maybe its better to buy the bags, test it at home and sell the unwanted at ebay...

Posted by earl9371 in United States, 30 May 2010 12:52

Unfortunately not working in the US - I scanned 17 packages and they all came back as #1 in the series (and you can feel there are different pieces inside many of the sets). Has anyone come up with a way to crack the code yet in the US?

Posted by Captain Aardvark in United States, 30 May 2010 14:02

My dad has a barcode scanner on his Droid; it probably can tell the difference between da minifigz.

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 30 May 2010 14:43

@earl9371, are you scanning the right barcode?

Posted by grogall in Germany, 30 May 2010 17:16

there s already a very good app for scanning minfigures on the iPhone no internet connection needed!

so get rid of that google spy junk

Posted by DrDaveWatford in United Kingdom, 30 May 2010 19:25

grogall, where can we find this iPhone app ?

Posted by Zrath in United States, 30 May 2010 21:10

I'm getting a Droid some time next month, so this is so W00T!! :D
Brickset is TEH AWESOME! :D

Posted by earl9371 in United States, 30 May 2010 22:59

Huw:
I was scanning the large barcode on the back left of the package - when I switch to the one to the right of it the program worked! This is the COOLEST THING EVER!! Thank you so much Brickset!

Posted by UnitronOne in Romania, 31 May 2010 04:25

Nice, but could you add something for scanning with PC too? I don't have an iPhone/Android, but would like to contribute to the database.

Posted by Lizardking in Austria, 31 May 2010 12:28

@UnitronOne: Just go to http://m.brickset.com/ and type the EAN in the searchfield. if it doesnt exist, you can connect it to a set.

Posted by The Guy With The Bricks in United States, 31 May 2010 12:49

I understand why this will be helpful for the collectible figures seeing as it can identify what is in the package. However, I am confused about its functionality with any other set. How will a barcode scan of, say, a Star Wars set be useful if it is obvious when you pick up the box to scan it which set it is?

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 31 May 2010 14:52

@crzypainter, very good question :-) It's just a cool thing to be able to do from a technical point of view, that's all :-)
I suspect it will, in all cases, be quicker and easier to just search for the set number, as you say.

Posted by Toa Of Justice in United States, 01 Jun 2010 10:05

I found a barcode-scanning app for the iPhone (and the Droid, plus many other mobile devices) called i-nigma:
http://www.i-nigma.com/SupportedDevices.html
I hope this works for everyone! :)

Posted by vynsane in United States, 01 Jun 2010 12:11

According to a post at FBTB.net the free iPhone app 'ZBar' will tell you what figure is inside the package:

http://www.fbtb.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=3922&p=37907#p37907

So now not only will it work on iPhone, we know that the barcode corresponds to the name of the figure!

Posted by collectormom in United States, 01 Jun 2010 14:46

Minifigures are now available at S@H
http://shop.lego.com/ByTheme/Product.aspx?p=8683&cn=634&d=70

@vynsane: just tried that app and it worked. I scanned the small barcode and it said Caveman figure, which is what I came up with when I looked at the barcode printout I have. Sweet!

Posted by Boc Thundar in New Zealand, 01 Jun 2010 16:01

are there any in new zealand ?

Posted by iabstract in United States, 03 Jun 2010 17:38

LOL, iPhone = pwned. Android is without doubt the better platform, especially when FroYo comes out. Looking forward to getting that new Sprint one so I can check this all out.

Commenting has ended on this article.