NFC letdown

[Comdrpopnfresh]

Just got some NFC tags, and I have to say- I'm really disappointed. Not in the tags; they're a great product. However, WP8 is so stringently locked down in some ways... Writing a tag to toggle BT only prompts an "accept" prompt, and then brings up the BT settings screen where I have to toggle it on/off by hand. I imagined tapping my phone to tags and having settings change, apps launch, texts sent, and calls dialed without any manual input.... How is tapping the phone to a tag, confirming the number to dial is correct, and then having to turn on speakerphone (or having already turned on BT and paired it with my handsfree device before starting to drive) any better than pressing and holding the voice command button, and saying "call xyz mobile?" IT'S NOT.
Hopefully the functionality is opened up in WP8.1/Blue, or with more consumers making use of NFC, besides tapping a sign in the entrance of a store for a coupon. The tech is crazy cool, but silly kept on a leash ATM. Hopefully some of the other actions that can be written to tags are a bit more hands-off. At least they were cheap.

I do not understand why some software operations on WP8 cannot be extended without giving up security. How hard would it be for MS to come out with an official NFC tag writing app, or write in a protected extensibility for system settings, that could at least permit changing of system settings (just switches like on/off for wifi/BT/sound)? The door to these settings doesn't have to be left open, but the WP Store could have trusted/approved apps that provide confidence to users, and the inclusion of one-time approval/acceptance by users for a tag/app to have access to something.

Is NFC writing and reading like this on Android? I am also dismayed by the lack of multiple-action NFC writing apps in the store- there are no free ones, and the ones that provide this function require launch of actions by the app itself! I love my phone, but this is an item I am adding to the features (or lack there of) that I admittedly hate about it. [including lack of native gmail w/ push notifications, pending VLC app, pending Citrix Receiver app, no micro-sd slot, and an internal battery] I have a Nokia Lumia 928 (for about a week now).

 

[Crono]

I haven't tried NFC with Windows Phone, but did no one warn you that it was a locked-down OS? It's easily as locked down as iOS, just with a slightly greater variety of supported manufacturers and hardware.

 

[QueBert]

NFC sucks ass, I bought some tags only to find out the Nexus 4 isn't compatible with this particular type. I research and find out the ones that work with the Nexus 4 have like 141 usable bytes, totally worthless for anything more than sending 3 commands. Silly me I thought NFC was a standard, but apparently there are 3 different types of NFC tags.

 

[thecapsaicinkid]

I made a post recently here saying the same thing. There's very little useful things you can achieve with NFC taqs.

 

[gorcorps]

I've used nfc with my Galaxy s3 and everything was automated with no further input once it was set up. WP8 is your issue here.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

probably one of the most overrated technologies. good for nerds, little use for mainstream. even samsung's really stepped back from talking about nfc beam

 

[IamDavid]

If MS opened it up people would the wine about it being insecure....

I use multiple tags throughout the day. Hitting an accept button does suck but I don't think MS can win either way.

 

[Zaap]

NFC works fine for what it is. Some people bought all the hype about clacking phones together like batons and running a marathon, using it to pay their bills, as a parlor trick to impress your friends when they walk in your house and their phone says "Granted to the house Wifi!", and other such bullcrap.

But it works fine as just a simple way to toggle settings/user states with a few tags in logical places. Most obvious example: in your car on a permanent dash mount. At the office.

All the other "impress your friends at the next party!" stuff was (as usual) never going to pan out.

 

[zerogear]

Personally I use nfc for setting different profiles been quiet, home and car

 

[jpbutler]

Personally I use nfc for setting different profiles been quiet, home and car

I use Tasker on my android phone to do the same thing.

 

[dawheat]

I'm lucky enough to work on a campus that is fully NFC enabled - so every register, vending machine, etc that you'd have to pay for can be tapped (I use Google Wallet).

When the entire ecosystem is hooked up, it's a great convenience. I always have my phone with me, and being able to leave my wallet in my bag or jacket and never having to worry about carrying it around is great.

Taps have also been extremely consistent for me - out of probably 600 taps, I had one not go through (didn't get the sound on my phone) and had to retap. I've seen more people in line in front of me have read issues with their normal cards.

The problem of course is outside these walls, availability is spotty and there's a lot of worker error. So when I have to carry my wallet with me outside, it defeats the purpose of a NFC wallet.

 

[Selenium_Glow]

Well, there is a Nokia NFC Writer app for all Lumia Phones. I have it on my 920, and toggling on Blutooh/WiFi when I got back home had no issues or confirmation alerts, but I never used NFC for other purposes either.

That said, The Nokia NFC Writer app claimed that they had a certain type of tag, and only they were guaranteed to work with Lumia Phones. Anyone have information/experience about this?

 

[zerogear]

Well, there is a Nokia NFC Writer app for all Lumia Phones. I have it on my 920, and toggling on Blutooh/WiFi when I got back home had no issues or confirmation alerts, but I never used NFC for other purposes either.

That said, The Nokia NFC Writer app claimed that they had a certain type of tag, and only they were guaranteed to work with Lumia Phones. Anyone have information/experience about this?

This is true, I tried using Lumia 920 with a regular NFC/Android NFC tag, it refused to write to it.

 

[QueBert]

NFC works fine for what it is. Some people bought all the hype about clacking phones together like batons and running a marathon, using it to pay their bills, as a parlor trick to impress your friends when they walk in your house and their phone says "Granted to the house Wifi!", and other such bullcrap.

But it works fine as just a simple way to toggle settings/user states with a few tags in logical places. Most obvious example: in your car on a permanent dash mount. At the office.

All the other "impress your friends at the next party!" stuff was (as usual) never going to pan out.

Problem is 141 bytes is next to nothing, the 1k tags are great, but don't follow NFC standards and won't work with most devices. NFC's are good if you only need a few toggles, but you run out of space quickly. I tried to make one for my car:

turn data on
turn wifi off
turn bluetooth on
turn GPS on
max volume
mac screen brightness.

WOOPIES not enough bytes on a tag. I don't really think I was trying to do too much *shrug*

 

[Zaap]

They do need to work on the standard. I don't understand why some devices have a limit on the tag size or type, especially current devices like the N4 and the SGS4.

For me, the 1K tags I got worked fine with my SGS3 and now my Note 2. Size was plenty to write all the commands I needed- pretty much your list and a few others like open car dock.

Even with the smaller tags sizes, it could easily be set up as a simple trigger for Tasker, which is the way a lot of people use their tags.

 

[lothar]

The only thing that I use NFC for is Google Wallet.
For everything else, there is Tasker. NFC tags are completely overrated.

 

[Comdrpopnfresh]

The only thing I use my NFCGuyz tag package I bought for is a tag on my nightstand to toggle battery saver. Completely useless in the car to start a call or send a text, when I am trying to waive my phone, not touch and interact with it while driving. I was using a tag at work to pause/play music incase anyone talks to me, but if the screen has locked, you already have to unlock it, and it is faster to then hit pause. Really wish MS had opened this up more in GDR3.... and I have GDR2- 3 isn't yet available to me yet. LAME.

 

[Joe1987]

I bought some stickers, it's pretty useless to me, too limited.

 

[Zaap]

Completely useless in the car to start a call or send a text, when I am trying to waive my phone, not touch and interact with it while driving.

Once again, using NFC in a completely lame way doesn't make the technology itself lame, people just have goofy expectations of it. I won't bother lecturing on trying to send text messages while driving no matter how you attempt it, but as for hands free call sending there's plenty of better ways than some Rube Goldberg method using NFC and waving your phone around while telling yourself that somehow qualifies as not touching or interacting with it.