Sony Ericsson Releasing NFC Support For Android Devices
Some big news from Son Ericsson today. They’ve announced a partnership with NXP, one of the chief manufacturers of NFC devices. I’m sure you all know what this means- the majority of Sony-Ericsson’s phones could include built-in NFC right out of the box. Not sure what that is? Keep reading.
So, quick crash course in NFC- otherwise known as Near Field Communication. Basically, all you need to know about it is that it’s a short range wireless technology- it enables wireless two-way communication between two NFC enabled devices in close proximity to one another. There are a lot of applications for this technology- including contactless payment (paying for things with your phone, basically), file sharing, ID cards…et-cetera. All in all, a pretty useful innovation, no?
Anyway, when questioned about the partnership, NXP had this to say:
Sony Ericsson intends to use the NXP PN65 NFC solution in their Android-based smartphones, which includes the NFC radio controller, the embedded secure element and NFC software
No word yet on which Sony Ericsson phones are going to include the NFC chip, but from the looks of it, Google’s hoping it’ll be a majority- they’re working on a bunch of new features for Ice Cream Sandwich(Still can’t get used to that name) that’ll utilize the NFC chip.
(Via Android And Me)
