Amazon iPhone app takes snapshots, looks for a match

See something you want? Just snap a picture with your iPhone, and a new Amazon shopping app will search for matching products. Still experimental, but I got some surprisingly accurate results.

The new Amazon iPhone/iPod Touch app is available now (for free) on the iTunes app store, and at first glance, it's pretty basic; you can search Amazon's product database, add items to your cart, view your wish list, and make purchases. So far, so hum.

Here's the cool part, though: Hidden in the "Reminders" tab of the app is an "experimental" feature that lets you take snapshots of … well, anything you'd like to buy from Amazon. Once you take a picture, the image gets compressed and uploaded to Amazon's servers; within a day or so, you're supposed to get an e-mail if any matches are found.

That's the idea, anyway—in practice, I got matches e-mailed to me within about 10 minutes or so, and they were surprisingly on target.

First, I took a (blurry) snapshot of the 14-inch Samsung X460 laptop I'm testing, and after about 15 minutes, I got a match: the 13-inch Samsung Q310. Slightly older and smaller, I know, but still, closer than I'd been expecting.

Next, I tried my Sony CyberShot DSC-T200—and got the exact match, probably within five minutes. After that, I teed up one of my old Thinsulate gloves. The match: "Warm Polar Fleece Gloves," same color (black) and even the same Velcro strap and stitching. Practically identical. Also a match: A Blu-ray copy of "Clear and Present Danger."

The Amazon app had a tougher time with my Xbox 360, which it misidentified as a Planex router (I'll chalk that up to the nearby HD DVD add-on drive with an Xbox wireless adapter attached, which probably confused Amazon's recognition software). But it found my Xbox 360 controller without a hitch.

While snapping pictures is easy, getting the results is a clunky process; because they arrive via e-mail, you must close the Amazon app, open the e-mail client, open the message, and click a link, which takes you back to the Amazon app.

Still, pretty cool—and easier than trying to key in product names while you're window shopping.

Update: So I couldn't resist—I took a photo of myself and submitted it through the app. Sadly, it appears I can't buy myself on Amazon; about a half-hour after sending my mugshot, I got an e-mail back: "We're sorry, we were unable to find a similar product." Bummer.