Tech tools for Black Friday

November 23, 2011|Carolyn Nicander Mohr, SPECIAL TO THE INQUIRER

Whether you are bravely navigating the crowds in the stores on Black Friday or bravely surfing shopping websites from the comforts of your couch, tech can greatly enhance your shopping experience.

Shopping at stores

One of the frustrations of shopping at stores is discovering later that your purchase could have been much cheaper online. Use your smartphone as a scanner to compare prices using the RedLaser app. Open the app, point your camera at a product's bar code to get price comparisons from major websites. Some big box stores, such as Best Buy, may match a competitor's online price, giving you the best of online shopping and instant gratification. RedLaser is available free for the iPhone - shortlink: http://bit.ly/vewl0b - and Android - shortlink: http://bit.ly/tja5CI.

If you have scoured newspaper inserts for the best deals, then forgot to bring the ads as you headed out the door for the mall, no worries. Download the Black Friday app by Brads Deals that has Black Friday ads from major retailers, sorted alphabetically and by best deals. The ads can be difficult to read on a small smartphone screen so this app isn't the best for planning your holiday shopping, but it can be very handy when you're at the stores shopping. Black Friday is free for the iPhone - shortlink: http://bit.ly/soumzo.

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TGI Black Friday is another smartphone app that gives you access to fantastic deals when you are at the stores. This app lets you search by products and stores, and displays the deals by the newest ads as well as by the most popular deals. TGI Black Friday is available free for the iPhone - shortlink: http://bit.ly/ssCNk5 - and Android - shortlink: http://bit.ly/usRW0D.

You may think of foursquare as an app that allows you to race others to become mayor of a store, but foursquare also offers great deals from partner merchants. Make sure you check into foursquare as you navigate your Black Friday deals to make sure you don't miss out on any specials. Foursquare is available free in the iTunes App Store - shortlink: http://bit.ly/tnxi3k - and the Android Market - shortlink: http://bit.ly/rxr34X.

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