Tag: NFC

Deal – POCO X3 NFC down in price.

Available today for a mere £169 (with free delivery), Amazon have the POCO X3 on offer – reduced from £199. It’s got a 6.67″ 1080 x 2400 LCD 120Hz screen (20:9 ratio / 395 ppi) and weighs in at 215 grams with a 9.4mm thickness. It runs Android …

Curve now integrates with Google Pay

I’ve used the Curve card for quite a while now. It’s one card that, with the aid of an app, acts as many different cards. Use the app to add your credit, debit or businss cards, then use the app to switch between them and simply use the …

Mobile payments are up, but the pace of growth continues to slow

While the total number of payments made by customers through mobile apps continues to rise, it’s at a rate that’s considerably lower than in past years. US consumers are continuing to spend billions through mobile wallet apps, but the amount of growth is beginning to level off as …

The mobile wallet. Just as safe as your bank.

We went to London last week. It was part of our annual trip to the city to see the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. However, whilst my mates nipped to the nearest cashpoint, I decided to chance it and not use any cash at all. Now, going to …

Get paying with your own ring

According to stats from Mastercard, there’s some 17 million Brits now ready to pay for goods with wearable devices. That’s over a quarter of British shoppers, who are probably already familiar with tapping their smartphones against card machines up and down the land. They’re currently trying contactless payments …

Still just using your debit card to pay? Make the switch!

One thing that can annoy me is when things are presumed. As an example, some people assume that all channels delivered via a satellite dish have to be paid for. They don’t, and you can plug a satellite receiver in and get a whole stack of additional channels …

Goodbye Android Pay, Hello Google Pay

Mobile payments are on the up, and with so many contactless devices, it’s now expected that a “tappy tappy” payment will be made in almost any store. Android Pay is a big player in this area, allowing you to add your credit or debit card and make purchases …

(Update) Welcome your new look. The Honor View 10

Honor have today launched their now familiar “well priced but still very, very good” handset in the shape of the Honor 7X. However, if you want to spend £449.99 and get some artificial intelligence, have a look at this – the new Honor View 10. It doesn’t look …

Oh happy days! Self-serve beer!

I’m overflowing with emails at the minute. However, when one pops up with a trigger word, I suddenly sit up and take notice. This time, the word is “beer”, and when I took a look at the email it actually tells me about a “self-serve beer” system. This …

Pay at the Pump, and get drunk!

Unless you’re trying to use the M6 Toll, a lot of places will now let you pay for stuff using your phone. With 1 in 5 payments now made via contactless, it seems to be the future. Transactions of up to £30 can be “tapped” and won’t need …

Android Pay – Pull a cracker this Christmas

Using Android Pay could result in a nice gift this festive season. Just use your phone to pay for something and you’ll be in with a chance of winning one of 100,000 prizes. Get a cracker every time you use Android Pay “through Dec 31”,  which apparently is how …

Capture and clone contactless cards easily. Dodgy as.

I saw this particular item appear on a promoted tweet this morning and had to check I wasn’t going mad. For just over £126, it’ll capture your tap-to-pay card information and will then clone it. The result, after just a few minutes carrying the thing on the tube, …

Vodafone Wallet with PayPal – Hands on

Paying for things has taken a massive leap forward in recent years. Money seems to be getting used less and less, and instead I’m tapping my bank card on terminals in supermarkets, on vending machines and through toll booths. It’s simple, it’s quick and it’s really easy. Now, …

Confirmed – The UK gets no NFC in the HTC Desire 10

I’ve started to develop a bit of a habit now – leaving the house without my wallet. At work the canteen and the vending machines all use contactless payments. When I get fuel – call it Apple Pay, call it Android Pay – the petrol station, the supermarket, …

OnePlus 3 – Review

OnePlus seem to have been in the news quite a lot recently, and this time it seems to be for all the right reasons. No over the top, morally and ethically questionable campaigns or events this time. It’s all about the OnePlus 3, the third flagship from the …

Getting started with Android Pay – A 6-step guide

Getting started with Android Pay is ridiculously easy and follows similar steps that iPhone users may be familiar with. As Android Pay has only become available in the UK today, we thought it wise to give you a brief look at the setup process, which goes a little …

Android Pay – It’s finally here

MasterCard are first off the line this morning with the announcement that Android Pay is finally available in the apparent sleepy backwater that is the UK. All you need is a compatible Android phone with NFC. It’s not just MasterCard though. Everybody has been in touch with us …

Android Pay arriving in the UK at the end of next month

After what feels like an age it appears that Android Pay is finally making the journey across the pond to the UK. The Telegraph is reporting that Google will launch the mobile payments system in the UK at the end of March. Since Apple Pay’s debut in the …

StarTech Bluetooth Audio Receiver with NFC – Review

Your phone is brilliant. Trouble is, the speakers on your phone are complete pap. Some of the Bluetooth ones you buy are a bit weedy too, so when you’ve got a chunky and expensive hi-fi system sitting in your house, you kinda want to use it. Whether it …

Improvements made in payment options

Paying for goods and services has always been a simple process, but in recent years it’s seemingly become even easier. In the past, options essentially involved either cash or a cheque, yet debit and credit cards have swiftly become commonplace among cash and cheques, paving the way for …

NFC on the iPhone 6. All you can do is pay with it

During Mobile World Congress I gained entry to the event via NFC and special app. It was a bit like the a Oyster card system on the Tube here in a London and seemed to work rather well. There was a big push during the event for NFC …

Fancy some extra buttons?

Have you ever felt like you were missing out on having some extra shortcut buttons on your phone or tablet? Ones that could be almost anywhere on the device and allow you complete customisation? Then Dimple may be the solution you have been waiting for. Dimple is a …

Bayan Audio Soundbook Review

Yes. Fair comment, we do review a lot of Bluetooth speakers here at Coolsmartphone. It’s the new thing though. Gone are the days of kitchen radio, CD and tape players. Now it’s a speaker which you pair with your phone or MP3 player. What about FM radio though? …

Nokia Lumia 925 Wireless charging shell review

A rather nondescript envelope arrived at my house at the weekend. Now it had been a good night on the Saturday to say the least so I had forgotten arranging this delivery. With some trepidation as to what I may have bought in a Corona fueled haze I …

MWC – Nokia wireless car charger hands on

As well as four new devices, Nokia also unveiled some accessories to complement the Lumia range. One of these is the Nokia wireless car charger. When docked in the charger, as well as charging the phone wirelessly, the charger can also open a default application (for example, Nokia …

Samsung Galaxy SIII Mini gets a little NFC

The S3 Mini is already available but a new NFC (tap to pay) version is on the way in just a few days. Powered by Android 4.1, the phone will remain identical to the non-NFC version, which includes a 4″ 800 x 480 Super AMOLED screen, dual-core 1GHz …

Nokia Announce the Lumia 620

Nokia have just announced a new addition to their range of Lumia handsets – the Lumia 620. As with the Lumia 610 the new 620 is an entry level device clearly aimed at the younger market. Coming in a range of seven (yes 7) different colours, the entry …

Vizibility – Clever NFC business cards and an online identity

So, you’ve got a business card. Most people do. Whether it’s a cheap business card or a posh aluminium one there’s generally the same problem – you can only fit a certain amount of information on, and when your number or job title changes it means a whole …

Droid DNA Exclusive to Verizon Wireless

America. Land of the free, home of the Verizon network and now – the Droid DNA. Made by HTC it’s available for pre-order on VerizonWireless.com and features a Super LCD 5″ screen with an amazing 1920×1080 resolution. Specs have been widely leaked, but include a 1.5Ghz quad-core Snapdragon …

Samsung Galaxy Note II – Initial Impressions

One of the surprise hits of late in the mobile handset arena was the Samsung Galaxy Note.  It sold by the bucketload and even now the waxing lyrical hasn’t stopped. It was therefore no shock when Samsung announced the Galaxy Note II and thanks to the lovely people …

New Blackberry Aristo handset specs leak

As 2012 draws ever nearer to a close, Blackberry fans will be getting more and more excited for the launch of BB10.  Currently scheduled for release in early 2012, the new OS which was shown off last month at Blackberry Jam is beginning to create a bit of …

NFC Demo using the Bond Phone

Now then Bond pay attention………. Here it is then the Bond phone showing of some of it technical wizardry enough to make Q giddy with excitement. One of the great feature of the recent Xperia Line up including the newly announced Xperia T is NFC is built in …

Acer Cloud Mobile Available from Wednesday 3rd October

News has reached us that the new Acer Cloud Mobile will be available from 3rd October directly from Expansys. The new 4.3″ device is set to ship with Android 4.0 Ice Cream sandwich and is powered by a 1.5Ghz dual core Snapdragon processor.  With 16gb internal storage and …

Spotify for Android updated

Spotify have just released another update for the Android software into the Play market. The update brings a couple of interesting new features, the first being NFC sharing of songs between phones – as long as your phones are Ice Cream Sandwich or above. It also introduces something …

Is NFC About to Take Off in the UK with the Galaxy SIII ?

Barely a couple of days after Everything Everywhere announced that they have teamed up with Mastercard comes another announcement, this time from Orange, one of the partners in the EE stable. Some time ago, Orange launched Quick Tapp with the Samsung Tocco Light.  This enabled NFC payments to be …

Sony Xperia P Available on Three

Looking to get yourself the Sony Xperia P we reviewed recently? It’s available today on Three and tomorrow in their stores. Prices start at £27 a month with no upfront cost on the Ultimate Internet 500 plan. It’s being offered up on Pay As You Go too. For …

NFC – What you need to know *Updated* with forum link

NFC stands for Near Field Communication you may have seen it in shops now as contactless payment basically its a set of standards for smartphones that enables the transfer of data such as text or numbers between two NFC enabled devices. NFC tags, like stickers, key fobs or …