More On Android NFC

Near Field Communication has been the talk of the town this year. NFC is defined as a short-range wireless connectivity technology (also known as ISO 18092) that is built upon Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. AT&T lists examples of contactless smart card communications which are ISO/IEC 14443 and FeliCa, which allow communications at distances up to 4 cm.

Google / Technomenia

Android-powered devices with NFC simultaneously support three main modes of operation:

1. Reader/writer mode, allowing the NFC device to read and/or write passive NFC tags and stickers.

2. P2P mode, allowing the NFC device to exchange data with other NFC peers; used by Android Beam.

3. Card emulation mode, allowing the NFC device itself to act as an NFC card.

4. The emulated NFC card can then be accessed by an external NFC reader, NFC point-of-sale terminal.

*Developer Android

NFC tapping introduces a new experience for the consumer. The evolution of NFC is attractive because of its simplicity of the tapping and the high volume deployment of the NFC devices will give the consumer the possibility to interact with both the real world and the virtual world. According to AT&T, NFC enabled devices will be used in a wide array of business applications. ABI Research expects 285 Million NFC-enabled devices to be shipped in 2013 and believe the NFC will come out of its "trial phase". The increase in potential use base is making the investment in NFC applications more justifiable. (ABI, 2012)

NFC has three modes:

• Read and write tags (open mode):

• An NFC enabled device can read an NFC tag that is embedded within physical material.

• Tap to connect and share (open mode):

• When two NFC enabled devices are brought within four centimeters of one another.

• Emulate card (secured mode):

• An NFC enabled device can be used for retail payments by using a mobile wallet app

*AT&T

NFC operates at 13.56 MHz and transfers data at up to 424 Kbits/second. NFC readers will be able to interrogate tags based on the ISO 15693 standard, provided that the tags employ the NFC Data Exchange Format (NDEF), which sets a common data-exchange format for NFC Forum-compliant devices and tags.

Android developers can check out NFC use cases which feature APIs using NFC technology.