Filed under: Software, iPhone, iPod touch, App Review
FinalPrice shopping app released
For those of you who still frequent brick and mortar stores, Jimmi Rehman has released the new FinalPrice 1.0 shopping app for the iPhone/iPod Touch at 99 cents. It requires 3.0 software to run.This app is a useful one-trick-pony. If you find a sale, the idea is to have your iPhone figure out how much something will cost after the item is discounted and after adding your local tax.
The calculations are solid but I had some trouble with the interface. Tapping the info button didn't work well at first. I had to tap it a number of times using various amounts of pressure for it to be recognized. The other buttons are not as unresponsive, but it still takes a number of taps for any of them to be recognized.
The info screen tells you to enter the original price and then tap the check mark to the right. When you do, the full amount gets displayed on the top green window. Next, enter the sales tax and click the check box to the left. After a few tries, when the click was accepted, a picker with discount percentages in five percent increments is displayed and you can choose the discount percent. Lastly, click on the 'What's the Final Price' button and your calculated price is displayed in the top window.
This is a very useful app and for those who like to peruse shopping malls, which doesn't include me, I can see a good deal of value here. Along with the Amazon app, (previously reviewed) you'll be carrying a nice toolbox to check prices and find out if you are getting a deal or not.
I just wish the buttons were more responsive.
What apps do you take shopping? As an iPhone newbie I would like to know, and I'm sure so would many of our readers looking for another way to simplify their shopping trips.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
smak said 5:40PM on 7-06-2009
I hear there is a calculator app coming out soon that does the same thing, only you don't look retarded. Can anyone confirm?
Reply
Raul Riera said 5:41PM on 7-06-2009
Well, the phone as a calculator right?
price * tax - (price * (discount/100))
Not that hard, but still.. is "easier" with the app
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Damien Guihen said 6:38PM on 7-06-2009
Perhaps I misunderstood something but I don't think that works. Are you taking tax as 1.0875? Even still, the answer is about $13 too high.
Try:
(1+(tax/100))*(1-(discount/100)*price
tax/100 and discount/100 are just to express tax and discount as decimals.
Thankfully tax is included in the advertised price in Ireland.
mark said 6:42PM on 7-06-2009
Um, where did you learn math? You don't tax the undiscounted amount! The simplified formula is:
price - discount + tax
In other words, if the item is 10% off (therefore, 90%), you do this:
price * .9 =
m+
* tax rate (e.g. ".0875") =
m+
mr
Xerloq said 5:54PM on 7-06-2009
Wow. Are people really this lazy? Or are they just stupid?
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Doh said 6:11PM on 7-06-2009
Well, seems to me that Raul Riera needs this app... at least the app's author(s) got the formula right.
Mike said 6:00PM on 7-06-2009
I'm gonna say stupid considering there are people who think that a 10% discount nullifies a 10% added sales tax.
(for the record, this actually amounts to 1% total discount).
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Piotr Malecki said 6:06PM on 7-06-2009
This app should have 3 scroll wheels.
e.g. 97.65 at 30% discount
1st - dollar amount (97)
2nd - cent amount (65)
3rd - discount (30%)
No need to type the amount in and the final price should change as any of the scroll wheels spin.
P.S. The tax input could/should also be a scroll wheel which is activated by pressing in the tax box. Would be useful for when people go across state lines or when items only have one tax and not the other (for e.g. GST/HST and not PST)
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Lachlan Hunt said 6:18PM on 7-06-2009
It would be better if stores in the US simply wrote the final price on shelf labels, avoiding the whole need for any additional calculation.
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smak said 6:28PM on 7-06-2009
That's an extremely practical solution for temporary sales. Well thought out...
Lachlan Hunt said 6:41PM on 7-06-2009
smak, to clarify, I should have said the normal tax inclusive price, which is what is calculated by this app, rather than the final price which would have any discounts deducted.
Anyway, that's how it works in Australia. All prices in retail stores must be inclusive of tax, and any taxes must be listed on the receipt.
smak said 7:10PM on 7-06-2009
Ah yes... i agree. I hate it when sales tax is not part of the final price. Which is part of the reason I like Starbucks and Goldenspoon, et al. Taxes are included in their price displays.
Craig Stanton said 2:28AM on 7-07-2009
Agreed. I want to know how much money I need to give to the person at the checkout to buy the item. I don't care how much of it goes to the store and how much goes to the government. Is there any other country apart from the USA that doesn't list their sales tax on the shelves?
puhsitch said 3:19AM on 7-07-2009
It's probably because taxes fluctuate as you move between states, counties, and cities. I'm ignorant about how taxes work elsewhere in the world, though...in Europe for instance, is it typical for there to be differences in sales tax between various locations within individual countries?
Nathan said 5:24PM on 7-07-2009
The iPhone's screen is capacitive. It can't detect pressure.
Well, it could detect that more of your finger is being applied to the screen surface. Not the same as pressure applied, though.
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Downboy said 6:28PM on 7-06-2009
He must be onto something as it only took two posts to prove someone needs it.
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jwfnla said 6:58PM on 7-06-2009
Whatever you do, don't buy the 'RedLaser' app that's supposed to read barcodes. Testing after my purchase, it was only able to read 1 of 5 or 6 items that I tested it on.
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CaptSaltyJack said 7:26PM on 7-06-2009
Just FYI, the iPhone does not register pressure at all. The only effect more pressure would have is that your fingertip might spread out more over the surface of the screen, thus giving the illusion that using more pressure had a different effect.
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viruzcom said 7:31PM on 7-06-2009
I must say that this app is nothing more than a simple calculator that a moron could make with xcode and 15 minutes of his time.
Why to promote the mundane TUAW.
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chaos123x said 7:34PM on 7-06-2009
God I hate sales tax.
Glad my state (Delaware) has tax free shopping.
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