Radio technology will soon do another consolidating act and remove an apparently extraneous 'device' from your pocket: Your wallet. Or at least your credit card. If you're the type who never leaves home without your cell phone, you'll automatically have a credit card or debit card with you wherever you go thanks to an improvement on standard RFID technology called near-field communication, or NFC.
The NFC mobile-payment application is currently in trials in the United States, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands and a few other countries, with transportation ticketing as a primary use (think SpeedPass on a cell phone). The idea is that you just touch your phone to an NFC reader (or bring it to within a few centimeters), and it acts just like the credit card or debit card you use right now. A mobile-payment-enabled phone is associated with a bank or credit-card company just like it's associated with a phone-service provider. The technology is similar to the RFID (radio frequency identification) transmitters used in contactless credit cards (see How Blink Technology Works), except that NFC chips allow for two-way communication instead of only one way, which is supposed to make for a more secure payment method.
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The mobile phone Bluetooth scanner is a potentially useful way to lower the risk of exposure to some popular kinds of credit card skimmers, but it is not fool-proof, and it is prone to both false.
The technology behind NFC, like RFID, uses inductive coupling to transfer data. Induction occurs when a wire (or any other conductor of electricity) passes through a magnetic field, generating an electric current in the wire. It's similar to the principal of electromagnetism -- that passing an electric current through a coil of wire will generate a magnetic field -- only in reverse. An NFC chip has a coil of wire built into it, much like an RFID chip. When an NFC-equipped cell phone gets to within a few centimeters of an NFC-equipped payment station, which is generating a magnetic field and also has a coil of wire inside, an electric current jumps between the two coils of wire, signaling The pay station will then say, for instance, 'Okay, I'll wait,' and the devices will keep the connection open until the phone approves the transaction and sends the data.
Nokia revealed the first fully integrated NFC phone, the Nokia 6131 NFC, at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. At CES, Nokia was in a perfect position to show off what some in the industry consider to be the myriad other applications for an NFC phone -- like sucking data off an NFC-equipped business card and downloading data from an NFC-equipped kiosk. The NFC chip is embedded underneath the cover of the phone. According to the NFC forum, you could also use an NFC phone to unlock the door to your house and synch your phone calendar with your PC calendar.
- If you scan a lot of charts of graphs, a mobile scanner with high scan resolution and color will make it one of the best options for you. Maybe you prefer to see scanned documents on your computer and need a portable scanner with a USB interface that provides a wired connection to your PC.
- Our first Android scanning method is part of an app that's probably on your phone already: Google Drive. Drive has an out-of-sight option for scanning documents via your smartphone's camera.
- Load the card information into a digital wallet, like Samsung Pay, Android Pay or Apple Pay, either by scanning or entering the numbers by hand. (Not every bank may work with every mobile payment.
The 6131 NFC is in trials in New York City as of January 2007. Nokia says it should available to consumers by March. No word yet on which stores or transportation venues will be equipped with the standardized NFC readers.
Card Scanning Mobile Phones & Portable Devices Driver
If you're interested in where cell phone technology is headed, then click here to read about the future of smartphones.
For more information on mobile phones as payment methods and other NFC applications, check out the next page. Drivers akerstroms laptops & desktops.
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Lots More Information
Radio technology will soon do another consolidating act and remove an apparently extraneous 'device' from your pocket: Your wallet. Or at least your credit card. If you're the type who never leaves home without your cell phone, you'll automatically have a credit card or debit card with you wherever you go thanks to an improvement on standard RFID technology called near-field communication, or NFC.
The NFC mobile-payment application is currently in trials in the United States, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands and a few other countries, with transportation ticketing as a primary use (think SpeedPass on a cell phone). The idea is that you just touch your phone to an NFC reader (or bring it to within a few centimeters), and it acts just like the credit card or debit card you use right now. A mobile-payment-enabled phone is associated with a bank or credit-card company just like it's associated with a phone-service provider. The technology is similar to the RFID (radio frequency identification) transmitters used in contactless credit cards (see How Blink Technology Works), except that NFC chips allow for two-way communication instead of only one way, which is supposed to make for a more secure payment method.
Advertisement
The mobile phone Bluetooth scanner is a potentially useful way to lower the risk of exposure to some popular kinds of credit card skimmers, but it is not fool-proof, and it is prone to both false.
The technology behind NFC, like RFID, uses inductive coupling to transfer data. Induction occurs when a wire (or any other conductor of electricity) passes through a magnetic field, generating an electric current in the wire. It's similar to the principal of electromagnetism -- that passing an electric current through a coil of wire will generate a magnetic field -- only in reverse. An NFC chip has a coil of wire built into it, much like an RFID chip. When an NFC-equipped cell phone gets to within a few centimeters of an NFC-equipped payment station, which is generating a magnetic field and also has a coil of wire inside, an electric current jumps between the two coils of wire, signaling The pay station will then say, for instance, 'Okay, I'll wait,' and the devices will keep the connection open until the phone approves the transaction and sends the data.
Nokia revealed the first fully integrated NFC phone, the Nokia 6131 NFC, at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. At CES, Nokia was in a perfect position to show off what some in the industry consider to be the myriad other applications for an NFC phone -- like sucking data off an NFC-equipped business card and downloading data from an NFC-equipped kiosk. The NFC chip is embedded underneath the cover of the phone. According to the NFC forum, you could also use an NFC phone to unlock the door to your house and synch your phone calendar with your PC calendar.
- If you scan a lot of charts of graphs, a mobile scanner with high scan resolution and color will make it one of the best options for you. Maybe you prefer to see scanned documents on your computer and need a portable scanner with a USB interface that provides a wired connection to your PC.
- Our first Android scanning method is part of an app that's probably on your phone already: Google Drive. Drive has an out-of-sight option for scanning documents via your smartphone's camera.
- Load the card information into a digital wallet, like Samsung Pay, Android Pay or Apple Pay, either by scanning or entering the numbers by hand. (Not every bank may work with every mobile payment.
The 6131 NFC is in trials in New York City as of January 2007. Nokia says it should available to consumers by March. No word yet on which stores or transportation venues will be equipped with the standardized NFC readers.
Card Scanning Mobile Phones & Portable Devices Driver
If you're interested in where cell phone technology is headed, then click here to read about the future of smartphones.
For more information on mobile phones as payment methods and other NFC applications, check out the next page. Drivers akerstroms laptops & desktops.
Advertisement
Lots More Information
Related HowStuffWorks Articles
Card Scanning Mobile Phones & Portable Devices Driver Updater
More Great Links
- PC Magazine: Nokia Intros NFC Phone That Doubles As Credit Card - Jan. 7, 2007
- CNET News.com: Sony, NXP to develop short-range wireless chip - Nov. 20, 2006
Sources
- 'Nokia 6131 NFC phone taps into mobile payment, ticketing and local sharing.' Nokia Press Release. Jan. 08, 2007
- Nokia Intros NFC Phone That Doubles As Credit Card.' PC Magazine. Jan. 7, 2007.
- 'Sony, NXP to develop short-range wireless chip.' CNET News.com. Nov. 20, 2006.
- 'Visa, Nokia turn cell phones into credit cards.' CNET News.com. Jan. 10, 2007.
