PrimeDesk Blog: What is NFC (Near Field Communication)?

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Tuesday, January 17, 2012

What is NFC (Near Field Communication)?



NFC (Near Field Communication)


NFC is a short-range high frequency wireless communication technology that enables the exchange of data between devices over about a 10 cm distance.

NFC is an upgrade of the existing proximity card standard (RFID) that combines the interface of a smartcard and a reader into a single device.

Enough of all these technical jargons, it allows users to seamlessly share content between digital devices, pay bills wirelessly or even use their cellphone as an electronic traveling ticket on existing contactless infrastructure already in use for public transportation.

The significant advantage of NFC over Bluetooth is the shorter set-up time. Instead of performing manual configurations to identify Bluetooth devices, the connection between two NFC devices is established at once (under a 1/10 second).

Due to its shorter range, NFC provides a higher degree of security than Bluetooth and makes NFC suitable for crowded areas where correlating a signal with its transmitting physical device (and by extension, its user) might otherwise prove impossible.

NFC can also work when one of the devices is not powered by a battery (e.g. on a phone that may be turned off, a contactless smart credit card, etc.).

However the maximum data transfer rate of NFC (424 kbit/s) is slower than that of Bluetooth V2.1 (2.1 Mbit/s).

NFC-enabled handsets



Android

  • Nexus S
  • Google Nexus S 4G
  • Samsung Galaxy S II (not all versions)
  • Samsung Galaxy Note (not all versions)
  • Galaxy Nexus
  • HTC Amaze 4G
  • Turkcell T20.

Ovi store/S40 & J2ME


  • Nokia 6212 Classic
  • Nokia 6131 NFC
  • Nokia 6216 Classic (Nokia has confirmed the cancellation of this phone in February 2010)
  • Nokia 3220 + NFC Shell
  • Nokia 5140(i) + NFC Shell

Ovi store/S60 & J2ME


  • Nokia 600 (Officially canceled)
  • Nokia 603
  • Nokia 700
  • Nokia 701
  • Nokia C7
  • Nokia C7 and the Nokia Astound and Nokia Oro variants, with the NFC feature enabled starting with the Symbian Anna release of the OS.

J2ME


  • Samsung S5230 Tocco Lite/Star/Player One/Avila
  • Samsung SGH-X700 NFC
  • Samsung D500E

Bada


  • Samsung Wave 578

MeeGo


  • Nokia N9

BlackBerry


  • Blackberry Bold 9790 (Codename Bellagio)
  • BlackBerry Bold 9990/9930 (Codename Dakota/Montana)
  • BlackBerry Torch 9810/9860
  • Blackberry Curve 9350/9360/9370

Windows Mobile 6.0


  • Benq T80

Other


  • SAGEM my700X Contactless
  • LG 600V contactless
  • Motorola L7 (SLVR)
  • Sagem Cosyphone
  • Sonim XP1301 CORE NFC

Future devices


On January 25, 2011, Bloomberg published a report stating that Apple was actively pursuing development of a mobile payment system employing NFC. New generations of iPhone, iPod and iPad products would reportedly be equipped with NFC capability which would enable small-scale monetary transactions.

Near Field Communications World stated on March 21, 2011 that Sonim Technologies will add NFC to its XP3300 Force device later this year.

On May 2, 2011, RIM announced the Blackberry Bold 9900, a new device that will use NFC technology.

In May 2011, Google announced Google Wallet, an Android application that will make use of NFC to make payments at stores. The card information will be stored in the app and will be used to make the transactions.

I hope this information helps, in future posts I will be writing on how to integrate NFC in Nigerian businesses of today considering the cashless Lagos initiative.

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