After over a year suffering from my LG Viewty, which has really been a waste of money, I finally have a new phone: the HTC Hero. For some people it might not be enough, but I’m very satisfied about it. One of the main reasons I chose for this phone is its Operating System, Google Android.

I use a lot of Google services including Gmail and Calendar. And however it is possible to synchronize these with the iPhone or Windows Mobile, I think for seamless integration, I should use a Google powered phone as well. I also love the application market, to let me download hundreds of handy applications for my phone, just like on the iPhone.

As a web developer, I’m interested in programming applications, so I decided to check out the Android SDK. The Android applications are written in Java, and I have not worked with that language before. It’s all new to me so it might take a while before I’ve build my first application, but there’s a lot of documentation available. It’s a nice challenge to get to know this environment.

One of the features on this phone is the possibility to scan QR-codes and let the phone execute an action depending on the content of the code. Visiting a website, searching for a product, starting a call, or sending an email are just a few examples of its possibilities. Here in the Netherlands its not very popular yet, but with more and more phones being able to scan bar codes and having wireless Internet I think it’s just a matter of time before everyone’s using it.

The good thing is, that everybody can make it’s own QR-codes very easily. I found a simple generator to do the job. Try it here.

Scan this QR-code with your phone, and see what happens.