While NFC as a feature has usually been the preserve of pricier devices in the Kenyan market, over the past year, we have seen it become increasingly available on lots of lower mid-range smartphones. We make a point of highlighting the availability of NFC when sharing specifications of devices in our gadgets section and in our reviews so check them out and see if any of the device you’re using is supported.
NFC, short for Near-Field Communication, is a form of short-range wireless communication technology that allows devices that are near each other (a few centimetres) to exchange data. The devices referred to here can be anything from smartphones and tablets to (NFC) tags and stickers, point-of-sale (POS) terminals, bank cards, etc.
While common use cases of NFC today revolve around payments, it can also be used for other things.
Like transferring files between two devices. That was a common use case among nerds a few years ago when we had Android Beam (and Samsung’s adaptation called S Beam).
You can also just pair devices like your home theatre (in the Kenyan market, look for the NFC logo below on a home theatre or soundbar) to make it easy to play the music on your smartphone with a single tap and not go through a lengthy setup process as is usually the norm when setting up normal playback via Bluetooth on such a device.
NFC is also in use in access control systems in most buildings. That card you tap to open a door at work or go through a security barrier at a building? That’s NFC at work.
Heck, even some printers have NFC. We have seen several from Samsung over the years. Just tap and print.
Then there are those of us who will have an NFC sticker on a bedside stand or stuck somewhere on the bed so that we can tap on it to stop or snooze the alarm.
To check if your smartphone supports NFC besides checking the above sections, look for this logo in the Quick Settings menu on your smartphone (accessible by swiping down from the top left side of your smartphone’s display using two fingers on most Android smartphones):
For those using NFC for payments using their cards, just make sure that your card has support for NFC. This isn’t an issue in this day and age since every card has this these days but, hey, we are not assuming anything here. Make sure your card has something like this on the front:
The right article at the right time. Thank you