Bitcoin Forum

What are some practical ways or technical ways that Bitcoin or an alternate cryptocurrency could be better? For example, an encrypted wallet.dat file is already being worked on. If there are good solutions already please point them out
1) are there any Bitcoin client applications for mobile OSs such as iOS, Android, Symbian or RIM?
2) is there a quick way for a brick and mortar stores to quickly accept BTC payments? Say a customer walks in with a Smartphone that has a Bitcoin client or other app that he could use to send or "Bump" BTC to the cashier of the store to pay for something?
3) is there a quicker way to get a confirmed BTC payment (6 confirms usually takes about an hour or so)?

What else would you like to see Bitcoin (or another cryptocurrency) do?

Sounds like some research in these forums is needed on your part.

Thank you. I'll definitely search. I apologize if these questions have already been asked. I'm a relative newbie.

What, if any, improvements would you like to see for Bitcoin or a subsequent cryptocurrency?

Dude, same questions....  Did you find anything?  I ran into your post while looking for how to get myself a smartphone app & how to get brick and mortar stores into it.

I found this site that charges 1% transaction fee for bitcoins or 3% transation fee for USD.

https://bit-pay.com/aboutMobile.html

What are credit card fees?  I thought they were 2-3%, so this discourages me.  I was hoping for free/cheap.  There's a chance that the 1% could work.  I realize bit-pay needs to make money as well.

However, personally, I hope to get a smart phone by December and then be able to at least do the transfer with others via smartphone.  Does bit-pay have a propriatary app for their mobile pay system?

concerning Android apps, I do not recommend the application called "bitcoinandroid".
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.bitcoinandroid&hl=en

I lost some bitcoins because of it, and apparently I am not the only one (read the user reviews)

There's another app called "bitcoin wallet" : https://market.android.com/details?id=de.schildbach.wallet&hl=en
I did not try it, but it seems to be much better

"bitcoin wallet" for android works really fine, with earlier versions i lost some btc, but those issues have been solved afaik.

1. Ability to import private key with QR on a smartphone app.
2. Have a way to include current Bitcoin value being traded in each block or as an alternative cryptocurrency and not depending on Trade-Gox.
3. Have trusted online services able to allow you to use 'green' addresses that won't require confirmations. Their fees will be highly competitive and won't allow double-spend.

Someone also came up with a novel idea of having preset amounts in individual addresses, and instead of sending them bitcoins or doing a transaction, you send them the private key for an address that has more than your total, then THEY create the transaction and send themselves the money and you the change.  Then they know the transaction can't be double-spent, and instead of a company trusting an individual who has nothing to lose, now the individual puts trust in a company who has everything to lose.  That was a bit of a neat idea, but I think using green addresses, and also just not worrying about confirmations and double spends for small things is the easiest and most likely to be adopted approach.

It can still be double-spent, since the individual still has the private key, and can therefore spend the money after they've handed the private key over to the merchant.

From my experience, the ways to use bitcoins on the go with your smartphone:

1) Instawallet.org - Quick, no-login online wallet. Provides an instant address for receiving, and allows spending via green addresses, with no transaction fees. Downsides are that you have to bookmark the page it provides, and if you lose it you're out of luck; and of course, you have to trust the owner, and his security, so using it with large amounts is unwise.

2) StrongCoin.com - Another online wallet, this one cleverly lets your browser do the transaction construction, so their servers never see your unencrypted private key. Clean look, simple to use. Main downside is that every transaction requires a fee, part of which goes to StrongCoin. Also, because the private keys are each treated as an encrypted account, rather than having an account be a wallet full of keys, there's a certain level of privacy lost. (And I'm not sure if aggregating funds from several accounts would require a fee for each move, but I would think so.)

3) BitcoinSpinner - An app for Android phones, this doesn't mess with the blockchain, so it's fast and light. And simple: you get a single address, the private key for which is stored on the phone and used to sign transactions, so again, the server never sees the unencrypted private key. The downside is that it's so simple, it lacks features like transaction history (or even just multiple addresses) which some might prefer to have.

Those all work for me so far, when used with their particular limitations in mind.

I can't comment on the bitcoin wallet app for Android (the actual full client, downloading the blockchain and everything) since I've not used it yet. Frankly, since none of the above require waiting for downloads, I'm not sure I ever will.

Also, to directly address question #3 in the OP: the number of confirmations is primarily a stat; anyone you send bitcoins to can act in whatever way at whatever number of confirmations they feel comfortable with. A restaurant may charge you at the start of your meal and allow you to leave after however many confirmations have passed during the meal. A friend may consider a debt paid as soon as you click send and the transaction gets broadcast, with zero confirmations. No one HAS to wait until a full 6 confirmations to do business with you, although the fewer confirmations, the greater the risk that someone can cheat the system. Really, 2 confirmations should be enough for most everyday bitcoin transactions.

This can be done with either StrongCoin.com or with MtGox.com

1 - Read the private key's QR code with your smartphone
2 - Import the private key as a new StrongCoin account (you encrypt it, they never see it)
 OR
2 - Import the private key by associating it with your MtGox account (they sweep btc from it to your account)


This might also be possible with BitcoinSpinner, as it only has a single private key, and lets you do backup and restore of that key.

I've found Bitcoinica (http://bicoinica.com) withdrawals hit the network within milliseconds after I submit the request. Combined with http://blockchain.info/ which displays pending transactions not yet in the blockchain, this combination is my ideal ewallet with built-in hedging.