In Japan and Europe — and now increasingly in the U.S. and Canada — QR codes tag everything from fashion boutique windows to fresh fruit. QR codes, literally short for “quick response”, quite simply eliminate the need to manually type a URL into a mobile phone or device—otherwise a bother for mobile users. They work best in tandem with shortcode numbers, and in selected cases - where the audience is very techie and likely to be QR code-ready - also exclusively.

Dubbed the “URL killer” by some in the mobile phone industry (not us!), most QR codes direct you to mobile sites, while others connect varying types of media or information from simple information on a product, to news, images, gossip, messages, promotional offers, downloads for ringtones, wallpapers, video… the destinations are endless.

QR Readers on phones

Beyond having a camero built-in, reading a QR Code usually requires a scanning software application be installed on your mobile phone (once). Many smart phone manufacturers have begun to pre-install QR code readers, but for those that don't, readers are very easy to download, and most are free for nearly every type of device.

For example the i-nigma Reader

You can download the reader directly to your mobile phone by visiting the web address: http://www.i-nigma.mobi/ which will automatically detect if your mobile phone is compatible - or you can send a SMS (text message) containing i-nigma to: +44 7797 882325 and you will be sent the link to the software.

History

QR Codes originated within the technology hungry country of Japan and have merely only recently began to become popular within the Middle East and Europe.

Traditional barcodes that you see on any commercial product are extremely beneficial as their reading speed, supreme accuracy and their functionality are key. As barcodes reached their peak and began getting used worldwide, the need for more data and characters types to be stored was inevitable.

Developers began tying to expand on the current amount of bars within the barcode and how their positioning to allow further data capacities. The need for smaller barcodes also was another defining factor in their development.

Such developments failed as reading and printing implications caused more problems than solutions. The 2D barcode was then born.

Barcodes vs. QR Codes

QR Codes have become more popular than the typical barcode as the typical barcode can only hold a maximum of 20 digits, whereas the QR Code can hold up to 7,089 characters. This makes the use and diversity of QR Codes much more appealing than their older counter part, the barcode.

Partially part of the reason QR Codes can hold more data, is because if you compare a typical barcode to a QR Code, you can see one major difference; barcodes only span horizontal whereas QR Codes can span horizontally and vertically.

QR Codes are capable of encoding the same amount of data in approximately one-tenth the space of a traditional bar code.

Mobile Phones use

With the technology of mobile phones constantly expanding, especially within mobile internet, QR Codes seem a great solution to quickly and efficiently bring mobile phone users onto the mobile web. QR Codes can be used to store all kids of data including such data such as a URL (Universal Resource Locator) or as most people know them; web addresses (mobile web). This then allowed offline publications such as:

• Magazines
• Papers
• Business Cards
• Buses
• Signs
• T-Shirts

Or basically any medium that can accept the print of a QR Code to advertise their product which would then direct the user to the medium.

How do they work

Take a mobile phone such as the iPhone; nearly ever mobile phone has a digital camera in today’s world. The camera, along with decoding software - today in most cases via a downloadable QR code reader application - can be used to capture a picture of the QR Code of which the QR Code software decoder and then transform the data held with the QR Code to a meaningful action for the mobile phone:

• Connect to a web address
• Download a MP3
• Dial a phone number
• Prompt your email client with a sender address
• etc

This can all be done within a matter of milliseconds making the transformation from a user’s mobile phones browser to the mobile web instantaneous.

Technical Standards

The Japanese standard for QR Codes devised by Denso Wave is JIS X 0510 which was released in January of 1999. The corresponding ISO International Standard, ISO/IEC 18004, was then approved in June of 2000. The standard was then updated back in 2006. (ISO/IEC 18004:2006).

QR Codes are capable of handling of sorts of data, including numbers, alphabetic characters, Kanji, Kana, Hiragana, symbols, binary, and control codes.

A total of 7,089 characters can be encoded in one symbol alone.
QR Code Data Capacities  Numeric only Max 7,089 characters
Alphanumeric Max 4,296 characters
Binary (8 bits) Max 2,953 bytes
Kanji, full-width Kana Max 1,817 characters

Position

A great feature of QR Codes is that you do not need to scan them from one particular angle. QR Codes are capable of omni-directional (360 degree’s) high-speed reading. QR Codes scanners are capable of determining the correct way to decode the content within the QR Code due to the three specific squares that are positioned in the corners of the symbol.

Need more info?

Wikipedia - About QR Codes.