nfc

NFC Tap to Pay may only come to newer Windows 10 Mobile phones

Submitted by Daniel Rubino on Wed, 06/15/2016 - 10:00

Mobile payments with NFC is coming to Windows 10 Mobile, but not all phones may get the feature. We break down what HCE is and why approval from credit card companies and the right NFC firmware may matter.

Lumsing Bluetooth NFC Speaker review

Submitted by Paul Acevedo on Mon, 12/01/2014 - 08:28

Not long ago, we reviewed an attractive little Splashproof Bluetooth Speaker from Lumsing. I loved the speaker's stylish design, sound, and resistance to water. On the other hand, its battery life could have been better.

If you're looking for a louder speaker with better battery life, the Lumsing Bluetooth NFC Speaker might just fit the bill. With two speakers and a bass diaphragm, this speaker can really pump out the sound. Plus you get Near Field Communication (NFC) pairing and microSD card support. The speaker includes some less-than-welcome voice prompts, but it's still a great buy for your phone or tablet at under $30.

Pinball League: Hardhat Zone review – a universal pinball game for Windows Phone and Windows 8

Submitted by Paul Acevedo on Sat, 11/15/2014 - 12:55

Although the much-loved Pinball FX2 sadly never showed up on Windows Phone, Microsoft's mobile phone platform has a long-running pinball series of its own: Pinball League from Tainicom. It started with The Juggler way back in 2011, followed by Dr. Pickaxe the next year. Both games also made it to Windows 8 and RT.

After a two year absence, Tainicom is back with their latest pinball game – Pinball League: Hardhat Zone. This and Tainicom's previous pinball games are universal purchases, so you can buy it once and enjoy on Windows Phone and Windows 8 and RT. Excitingly, Hardhat Zone introduces some new features like portrait and landscape support, Facebook leaderboards, and multiplayer via NFC (Near-Field Communication). See the NFC multiplayer mode in action in our video review!

Softcard brings NFC payments to Windows Phone

Submitted by Harish Jonnalagadda on Tue, 11/04/2014 - 04:00

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Windows Phone users looking for contactless payments can now use Softcard to pay at over 200,000 outlets in the US. The service, which is formed out a joint venture between AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, lets you easily pay at eligible locations via NFC.

Connectedly: Here's why I implanted an NFC chip in my hand

Submitted by Robert J Nelson on Tue, 10/21/2014 - 12:43

I've recently taken a deeper step into the connected world. A step that some will describe as being interesting, and that some will describe as being crazy. To be honest, as happy as I am since I have taken this step, I have to admit that I fall on both the interesting and crazy sides myself. Before getting any further, I should mention that the "step" I took was implanting an NFC chip in my hand.

Popular and portable NFC-enabled Bluetooth Speakers

Submitted by Abhishek Baxi on Thu, 06/05/2014 - 19:29

When I bought my first desktop in college, I had a fancy 2.1 speaker system along with. I was the cool guy around, and lugged around those to college parties and family get togethers.

I haven’t used those in a couple of years now though. There are some fine Bluetooth speakers in the market and while they can’t obviously replace a high quality speaker setup with a subwoofer or something, the portability and connectivity options are a great advantage. The latest range of Bluetooth speakers are also NFC-enabled that allow pairing your smartphone with just a tap.

We are familiar with Nokia's JBL Power-up NFC speakers but let’s have a look at three popular NFC-enabled Bluetooth speakers that I’ve been using extensively at home for a while and carry on my travels as well.

Transport for London looking to introduce smartphone based fare payments

Submitted by Richard Devine on Tue, 04/22/2014 - 06:49

With NFC on your smartphone, using it to pay for your morning commute across London may be getting closer to reality. According to a report in the Financial Times, carriers EE and Vodafone have begun talks with Transport for London over beginning trials of a mobile wallet to pay for your travel.

NFC Toolkit updated with extra profiles and more

Submitted by Sam Sabri on Sun, 12/15/2013 - 22:34

We first took a look at NFC Toolkit in early November. The app allows users to take control of the NFC abilities on their Windows Phone. While NFC support on Windows Phone is currently limited compared to the options available on Android, NFC Toolkit does the best it can to help users maximize the potential. The app has seen two updates since we last covered it, let’s take a look at what’s new with the app.

Official Windows Phone app for the NFC Ring accessory now available for commands

Submitted by Rich Edmonds on Wed, 12/11/2013 - 09:49

The team behind the NFC Ring, a piece of wearable technology with support for NFC, have released the official Windows Phone app. If you're not familiar with the product, think of it as a ring, but with NFC capabilities. Starting as a Kickstarter project, we became rather excited about the possibilities this technology could unlock with Windows Phone.

Should you be looking to pick up a NFC Ring for yourself or friends, you'll definitely want to check out the official app. Head on past the break for all the details.

Get the most out of NFC on Windows Phone 8 with NFC Toolkit

Submitted by Sam Sabri on Wed, 11/06/2013 - 23:54

NFC is an area that so far Windows Phone and Android are beating Apple at. In fact, the iPhone doesn’t even support NFC. While some NFC features are still limited on Windows Phone, it’s a nice feature to have in a variety of scenarios. Automatically pairing your phone to your speaker is one example that’s always demonstrated, but NFC can do so much more. Here’s an NFC app for Windows Phone that’s pretty unique. It’s called NFC Toolkit and we’re going to check it out.

Get ready to take off with Microsoft and British Airway's new digital bag tag

Submitted by Michael Archambault on Tue, 11/05/2013 - 15:12

What is the worst part of departing on your overseas flight? Bag drop-off, of course. Dropping your bags off in one country and hoping they will be with you when you arrive elsewhere can be a real nightmare. Luckily, British Airways and Microsoft have partnered up to create a new Digital Bag Technology.

You can even see it in action in the creepy demo video below.

Nokia 'Guru' Bluetooth headphones could be headed for December release

Submitted by Seth Brodeur on Mon, 11/04/2013 - 11:21

Nokia's Bluetooth headphone setup, currently codenamed 'Guru,' looks like it might be released under the official name BH-121, according to FCC documents showing a device similar to a previously leaked rendering. Additionally, at least one retailer in the Czech Republic is already listing the BH-121 on their sites with an availability date of December 16 and a retail price of 1050 CZK (about $54.00).

New leak sees Nokia working on NFC, iPod Shuffle-like portable music player

Submitted by Rich Edmonds on Tue, 10/15/2013 - 11:27

Nokia is looking to pump out new hardware next week at its Nokia World event in Abu Dhabi. As well as expected tablets and smartphones, the company is also working on accessories and other technologies. Now a tweet published by the rather accurate @evleaks Twitter account suggests Nokia is working on an iPod Shuffle-like, portable music player.

Pepper update on the way; addresses NFC bug preventing the app from running on low-end hardware

Submitted by Rich Edmonds on Fri, 09/27/2013 - 08:34

This is just a short PSA to relay news from the Pepper development team. An update for the popular live music Windows Phone app is on its way to address an NFC bug that can prevent the app from successfully starting when loaded on hardware with no NFC support (Nokia Lumia 520, etc). The fix has been submitted and should go live shortly.

Nokia’s Bluetooth accessory ‘Treasure Tag’ render gets leaked

Submitted by Daniel Rubino on Thu, 09/26/2013 - 10:34

Nokia is expected to unveil quite a few new devices next month in UAE for what may be their final Nokia World. Whether it is the Lumia 1520 or their tablet, the rumored Lumia 2520, Nokia is sure to have a great show.

One of those items due for release will be the Bluetooth charm called ‘Treasure Tag’. The item will reportedly work with Bluetooth 4.0 LE devices and allow users to track things like keys, bags or whatever it is attached too. NFC will be on board too for quick and easy pairing. As the Verge reported earlier this summer, the device will have a button on it to ID phones that it is attached to and its battery should last 6 months while always being on.

CloudZync launches on Windows Phone, introduces wireless payment options

Submitted by Rich Edmonds on Mon, 08/12/2013 - 18:15

CloudZync (www.zync.co.uk) is a British mobile commerce company that has launched an app for Windows Phone. With 280 merchants and stores already signed up, Zync Wallet makes it so you don't need to carry along a wallet in your pocket with numerous cards and cash at hand. Relying on your mobile phone for almost everything in life, mobile payments are slowly catching on with deployment taking place using NFC capabilities.

This Windows Phone app aims to help consumers take steps to make it easier to pay for services and goods with loyalty cards and more.

Samsung releases ATIV Beam app so you can send files to Android hardware

Submitted by Rich Edmonds on Mon, 06/24/2013 - 09:27

Can we get a drum roll? Samsung has released a new app for Windows Phone. ATIV Beam. Sounds cool, right? It certainly is. We're looking at an NFC app to make it easy to transfer files from the ATIV Windows Phone to... wait, Android? You'd immediately assume that this is just a small error on Samsung's part and the app will work with Windows Phones that sport NFC too, right? Wrong, this is an exclusive app for those who wish to transfer files to Android devices.

WakeUp Alarm for Windows Phone 8, an interesting usage of NFC/QR tech to get you out of the bed

Submitted by George Ponder on Wed, 06/19/2013 - 18:21

At first glance WakeUp Alarm for Windows Phone 8 looks like your average alarm app. You can create up to five active alarms that can repeat daily or once a week.

What sets WakeUp Alarm apart from other alarm apps is the use of NFC and QR codes to disable the alarm. You can create a situation where you physically have to get out of bed to silence the alarm.

Nokia updates NFC Writer for Windows Phone, fixes option to purchase official tags

Submitted by Rich Edmonds on Wed, 06/19/2013 - 15:28

Nokia has bumped the NFC Writer app for Lumia Windows Phones to version 1.0.0.57. The first change we've noticed is the product link for grabbing more tags off Amazon now works in the UK (we've noticed the app crashed when selecting the link). That said, there have been reports that the app is continuing to cause problems for consumers with crash reports coming in regarding the purchase link. Looks like Nokia has to have a deeper look.

Nokia continues to push forward with NFC at WIMA, shows off apps and hardware

Submitted by Rich Edmonds on Fri, 04/12/2013 - 15:38

Nokia is continuing to push NFC and remains the driving force at WIMA (www.wima.mc), the foremost NFC conference. The event took place in Monaco this week and the manufacturer has been showing off its product portfolio, NFC-enabled hardware and the overall ecosystem. As well as showing off its stuff, the company has also held an NFC developer workshop.

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