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Poynt's smart store terminal lets you pay any way you like
One of the many reasons you don't see widespread support for mobile payment tech like Apple Pay or Google Wallet is the hardware investment needed to make it all work. Why should a store spend thousands of dollars on machines that miss out on some features, or will be obsolete in a few years? That's what Poynt wants to fix with its new smart terminal. The Android-powered device takes just about every form of payment imaginable, including NFC transactions from your phone, chip-and-pin cards, QR codes and old-fashioned magnetic stripe cards. You can even add a cash drawer through USB. The countertop machine also has Bluetooth beacon support for in-store offers, and its app platform lets stores adapt to new services by either downloading apps or writing their own.
Poynt for iOS is a miss for local search
I took a look at Poynt for iOS about two years ago. I found it a mixed bag and frustrating to use, on top of not being as feature-rich as some of the similar apps on offer. Poynt has been updated, and I still find it a frustrating experience. While features have been added like ratings for businesses and a new homescreen layout I find that the app simply does a shoddy job when searching. For example, while searching for Japanese restaurants near me, it suggested two judo studios. I can understand how the keyword "Japanese" could get jumbled but it doesn't happen to me on other local search apps. On some of my searches, I simply got an error message (see the gallery) referring me to the Poynt website. The app does gas price comparisons, a failing of the older version, which is a positive. The app is free but loaded with ads. Sometimes the ads show up segregated at the bottom of the screen, but sometimes they show up looking like legitimate listings of locations, and I think the ads should be kept out of the content area. After a drive, I got back home and instead of reporting my correct address, which it uses for distance calculations, it had me several streets over. When I asked for directions to a location the app asked to use Google Maps. That isn't going to work on iOS 6 which has no Google Maps app yet. Instead, it went off to the web for Google Maps, rather than using Apple's built-in Maps app (which, as I write this, is still Google-powered). Failing that, it could have offered to use Navigon which is on my iPhone, but there is no option to do so. Some other local search apps, like Around Me will integrate with third-party navigation solutions. Poynt has some laudable ideas, like adding an event to your calendar, but it botches a lot of local searches with bad information, improper locations or guiding me to businesses that closed more than two years ago. Ultimately, you have to trust the software, and I found that Poynt is wrong about as often as it is right. I'm surprised it hasn't improved in more than two years. Poynt is not universal and is primarily designed for the iPhone. It requires iOS 4 or greater. %Gallery-165817%
Poynt for iPhone is a mixed bag
Poynt has come to the iPhone, after having been a very popular free app on BlackBerry phones. Poynt provides local searches of individuals and businesses. It also shares a database with Open Table, so you can use it to make reservations at restaurants. Unlike the BlackBerry app, it has augmented reality, but is missing some features beloved by the Blackberry crowd. Like some of the other iPhone search apps, you can enter the name of a business, and get a phone number, links to a website (if there is one), a mapped location, or directions. If you use the theater search, you'll find nearby movie houses. You can also search by movie genres, or get a list of the top 10 box office films. You can't buy tickets, but you can stream trailers. (Note: The developer says you can buy tickets if a ticket icon appears next to the distance marker. I didn't see any offering from my local theater when I checked the app.) When you search for restaurants, you get similar results to those of the business search. Results include phone numbers, restaurant websites, maps, and directions. You can also narrow your search by cuisine, or by distance.
