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Technologies have the capability and potential to fight out with almost every challenge that comes across. Data communication and networking is one such primary area of concern that is accompanied by the safety and speed of transfer of data. Bluetooth and NFC are two ingenious solutions that have helped millions of smartphone users globally with such data transfers.
Near Field Communication (NFC) is a wireless technology that pairs distichs for communication and data sharing. Data can be transferred between two devices that are kept within 10 m of distance. One device can connect to only one device at a time. The transfer of data takes place at a speed of 424 Kbit/second. An NFC device with power can pair or communicate with non-powered NFC chips. This technology suits best for payments and money transfer between two devices, collecting and transferring information etc.
NFC is easy to use and can be incredibly useful. It stands for Near Field Communication; the acronym must not scare you. It is a technique that most of the people have been using Bluetooth but is more secure, dedicated and trusted form of data and file transfer, including banking payments.
NFC is a wireless touch technology that is exclusively for simple data transfer. It works on the principle of sending information over radio waves – RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) standards delineated by the NFC forum. The devices have to be kept in proximity to experience a smooth and quick data transfer. This kind of data transfer not only takes place between two NFC enabled devices but also between two NFC enabled chips.
The two chips enabled with NFC do not need to be paired before sharing data. These run on the very little amount of power and are very efficient as compared to other wireless communication types. The NFC chip operates as one part of the wireless link and as soon as one chip connects with other the data transfer takes place. NFC identifies us by our bank accounts, cards, devices, extensions, and personal info.
NFC chips come installed inside credit cards for contactless payments. Users can make use of NFC via smartphone, smartwatch, and wallet. Almost all mobile OS makers are coming up with their own apps that offer unique NFC functionality. Some of the very exciting examples are Samsung Pay for Samsung phones, Android beam and ice-cream sandwich 4.0. NFC chips cannot replace every card in your wallet, but most of the frequent shopper cards are being digitized including loyalty cards, library cards and business cards that can be contained and transmitted via NFC (Near Field Communication).
NFC Apps and Bluetooth are the two most common ways to transfer data between two devices. To initiate a transaction, first of all, a file is sent. As soon as the request is fulfilled that actual file transfer takes place.
A Bluetooth device connects with every other device that is Bluetooth enabled. This is the simplest form of transferring data or files between two devices. This generally takes place within 33m of distance. In case the Bluetooth devices are wired then they might cover more distance. Data usually travels at a speed of 1-3 Mbit/second. One Bluetooth device is capable of getting connected to almost 7 devices for communication at a time. All devices might not get this privilege. These days Bluetooth is available in almost all devices like speakers, smartphones, iPods, laptops, gaming equipment etc.
When we create an app like NFC (Android version), we want our app to be able to read NFC tags when we get nearby to any such device or chip. This essentially requires adding NFC permissions to our application parse data from an NFC tag, create NDEF message parser, creating a user interface and writing Java code for the NFC reader app.
It is important to consider that the NFC tag is a small radio module and is expensive to create (more expensive than a barcode).
The size of a single NFC chip is ~0.5 mm and can be available in 5 cents. But when the cost of the copper coil, cost of the label, and the cost of integration of labels are added, it becomes obvious that they cannot be made available in less than 10 US cents. If barcodes are replaced with NFC tags, a single tag with a cost of roughly 5% of net sales.
NFC requires much less power which makes it suitable for passive devices. But a major drawback is that NFC transmission is slower than Bluetooth (424kbit.second as compared to 2.1Mbit/seconds) with Bluetooth 2.1.
One advantage that NFC enjoys is faster connectivity. It takes less than one-tenth of a second to establish a connection between two devices due to the absence of manual pairing and inductive coupling. One major application of NFC is mobile payments where it comes super handy. As discussed above Samsung Pay, Android Pay and Apple Pay are three big applications of payments via NFC.
NFC payment Apps are an innovative technology comparable to Bluetooth but are all set to completely overturn the way all transactions are done on cell phones and other mobile gadgets. It is in no way a competitor of Bluetooth as the latter has its own advantages. NFC can be good and effective for data transfer for short-range wireless data transfers but is meant for an entirely different set of applications. Bluetooth still remains a supreme defender and works to fix to lynching that must be implemented urgently and unfeignedly. NFC still remains to be of assistance rather than a competing foe to Bluetooth. We’re ready to lead you into the future of data transmission. Here you go!
Manish Jain is the co-founder and Managing Director at Konstant Infosolutions. He is responsible for the overall operations of the company and has played a major role in bringing Konstant up from its humble beginnings and, with his immense energy and drive, transforming it into a globally trusted name in IT solutions.
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