The good people at Inside Secure have ported over their Open NFC stack to Ice Cream Sandwich, giving OEM's one less hurdle to jump when getting devices ready for upgrading. The new 4.3.3 release allows almost any NFC hardware to become Android compliant by using a Hardware Abstraction Layer and special kernel module to communicate via a set of consistent APIs. What this means to you...
Connecting the entire home has been an ongoing trend here at CES, and Sony has introduced an interesting concept to acheive that goal. Xperia SmartTags are NFC chips that you can stick throughout your home and program with different actions and settings. When you enter the room and tap your phone to the SmartTags, your phone will automatically adjust to the profile you created. Pretty...
One of the little bombshells dropped from the Verizon Galaxy Nexus training materials concerns NFC and the swappable battery. Because the NFC chip resides on the battery itself, the hardware changes when you change the battery. Not only does your replacement battery have to have NFC capabilities, but the system and NFC chip use a token to match things together for security. We're...
We're just going to let this one from Verizon hang out there: Recent reports that Verizon is blocking Google Wallet on our devices are false. Verizon does not block applications. Google Wallet is different from other widely-available m-commerce services. Google Wallet does not simply access the operating system and basic hardware of our phones like thousands of other applications....
Fans of footlongs and 4G will soon be able to pay for their sandwiches using Google Wallet. The restaurant chain has announced (and we've also been tipped with an internal Subway e-mail -- there's a first) its intention to full support NFC purchases with Google Wallet at more than 7,000 restaurants by April 2012. Also in 2012, expect full support for Subway Cards. Restaurants in...
Not a whole lot has happened on the Google Wallet front since its initial release but a new update has now appeared in the Android Market and brings a few cool changes and a weird version number with it. v1.0-R33v4 as it is known has the following changes listed: Find new offers directly in Wallet Updated transaction detail screen (for Tap & Pay and in Transaction History...
Isis, a joint venture of Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile, has announced that the major hardware makers of Android (and Windows 7) phones have climbed on board and will offer hardware that implements Isis' NFC tech and standards. The press release names LG, Motorola, HTC, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and BlackBerry manufacturer RIM as hardware partners, as well as DeviceFidelity to offer...
Pre-sale starts online Oct. 10; phone is NFC-capable T-Mobile this afternoon announced the HTC Amaze 4G (aka the HTC Ruby) -- a 4.3-inch powerhouse that will run on TMo's HSPA+ 42Mbps 4G network. In addition to the aforementioned display (which is a Super LCD at qHD resolution), the Amaze 4G has a dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 processor pushing Android 2.3.4 and HTC Sense (...
Google has been pretty quiet recently about Google Wallet, a new payment service announced back at the end of May. But that is about to change soon, folks. Engadget has received an image taken from a Radio Shack computer indicating that Google and Radio Shack are prepping for an upcoming launch in stores. Usually in large retail rollouts like this, retailers send out info before it's...
LG has jumped into Android in a big way, releasing phones this year that cover everything from the entry level in the popular Optimus One line, to the future generation hardware configuration of the Optimus 3D. Now the folks at PocketNow have gotten their hands on the rest of LG's 2011 roadmap, and as expected Android rules the roost. Besides the LG Fantasy, a Windows Phone 7 offering...
PayPal has shown their new peer-to-peer NFC payment system at MobileBeat 2011 today, using two Android powered Samsung Nexus S phones. The premise is simple -- open the app on both phones, enter the payment amount on one, and bump them together. After the buzz, enter account details, and the payment is processed. Afterwards, the normal email receipts are generated and sent out, just...
If you happen to have a Nook Color and love Angry Birds, you're in for a treat. Rovio and Barnes & Noble have teamed up and made B&N stores the very first "magic location" for the Angry Birds game. All you have to do is play Angry Birds (the official Nook Color edition -- hackers with the Android Market version can't join the fun) while inside one of the 700 plus B&N ...
Rumors are always just rumors, but a current one flying around the Internet has an unnamed HTC sales manager outing a 4.3-inch successor to the HTC Sensation, with NFC capabilities, to hit in the third quarter of 2011. Yes, a new phone will be better than an old phone -- shocker -- even though this particular old phone hasn't even hit the shelves yet.So far the only Android phone to...
While it may not really seem all that interesting at first glance, today's announcement from Google regarding the discontinuation of Google Tags could potentially mean quite a bit to businesses who jumped on board to support the program. The trial, which began last year, has come to a close and despite the claim tens of thousands of businesses have used Tags Google has decided to shut...
Over at the Android Developers blog today, Google has announced an update to Android 2.3 that adds new NFC capabilities for developers. Google also stated that since NFC is an emerging technology, they'll be doing their best to offer what they can from those capabilities as they present themselves. Some new features added in the 2.3.3 platform include: A comprehensive NFC reader/...
Google has posted a job opening for a Technical Account Manager, and part of the qualifications call for experience with NFC/RFID technology. The job description states the person hired will be responsible for the success of Google's "largest partnerships in the Mobile Commerce space." We've already heard about plans for global domination a partnership with PayPal that would use NFC...
Yeah, you'll need to take this one with a big grain of salt as some of these rumors have been floating around for a whole now but with that said and out of the way. New information is suggesting that come Mobile World Congress next month, Samsung will be all set to release the Samsung Galaxy S2 line of devices. If we follow the rumor mill, what we should be looking at come announcement...
CES ushered in a new era of smartphones and tablets. Dual-core Tegra 2 processors. LTE broadband data connections. Honeycomb on tablets (for starters). Laptop companions. Docks that turn your smartphone into a mini computer. Creme brulee-coated smartphones drowning in syrup and melted butter. Wait. That was breakfast.But one thing that was nowhere to be found in the major smartphone...
Near Field Communication is a feature of Android OS that arrived with Gingerbread (2.3). The practicality of NFC in our day-to-day lives is still to be questioned, but it undoubtedly represents a unique piece of technology that has enormous potential.As more carriers and credit card companies test out NFC for daily use, it will become clear exactly how effective the technology can be....
Another new feature to Gingerbread is Near Field Communications (NFC). It's a fancy term for wireless communication between things that touch each other. You've probably seen this with your current credit or bank card, and special terminals at places like gas stations or bank teller machines, and it can be pretty handy. It's a smartphone technology that's still in its infancy, has...