Home Forums Peripherals & Multimedia Audio, Video, Photography Photo comparisons

I heard on a video awhile back that Amazon has the ability to compare products to a picture you submit of something you like.

I've searched the internet and can't find such a thing on Amazon. I don't even remember which video it was. Have you guys heard of this? I have a tool that I don't know the name of and I can't get it apart. I thought if I took a picture and submitted it other similar products would come up and I could find out how to use it.

Update: I finally called Amazon (duh) and got the directions from them. So, never mind.

So, how's it done?

As the expression goes, "inquiring minds would like to know."

At a guess, the easiest technique would be to OCR the label on the device then use an algorithm to parse the data and then search on the name. The technology to recognize textual data from an image already exists in Monterey (macOS 12). The rest would be a reasonably straight-forward Python (the language, not the snake ) scrip
Alternatively, If there is no label or text, the option would be a variation of facial recognition plus an extensive database of shapes. (Not too difficult but it would be a lot easier with 3D images.) The size of the shapes database alone would put something like that well beyond most personal computers, but easily within the capability of Google's or Amazon's servers.

To be useful, probably a combination of the two would be the best choice.

Having said that, I have spent a lot of time on Amazon recently, and I have never seen any sign of what Rita is talking about. However, Amazon's "similar products" is getting very, very good at identifying not just what I search for but often what I am really looking for based on my history. To the point, I often prefer an item from the "suggested" list over the one I searched for. Whatever you think of Amazon, that is darn good marketing. (It also means they know me well, perhaps too well.)

I don't do Amazon on the iPhone, but I will have to try that on my iPad! Thanks for the information.

Thanks for the details, but if there's equivalent functionality in Amazon's website, I haven't been able to find it.

Rats! It would be wonderful functionality on a large screen.

I can't imagine doing any sort of shopping on an iPhone, although I guess with a late model one that's significantly bigger than my 5S...

It is not in the iPad app either. It’s absence on both the other platforms makes me think it is intended to be used primarialy when shopping brick & mortar clothing and furniture stores to see if Amazon has similar products in the same style as the one you are looking at. It seems focused on “looks” foe women, men, and home. You upload images from Photos so there os no reason the app would not work in either macOS or IPadOS as well as iOS.

That-all makes sense, but it seems like the same functionality would benefit Amazon on all platforms, so I wonder why the limitation?