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Google Wallet Unveiled

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As promised here we are with the update to today’s earlier post about the speculation of Google’s new NFC payment services, Google Wallet. Turns out speculation about the name was right on the money and they will begin field testing this new service in shops around New York, Portland and San Francisco this summer with other cities following shortly after. As Sprint is their partner in their launch of Google Wallet, the Nexus S which is carried by Sprint will be one of the new NFC capable devices in the US to enjoy this new service. Want more information? Check it out after the break.

What makes Google Wallet unique and different from previous mobile wallet systems is that it allows the inclusion of more than one credit card and includes loyalty cards as well, meaning one tap will register not only your credit card but also your loyalty card as well.

As it stands Google Wallet currently supports Mastercard credit cards from Citi and users can pay for goods at 120,000 U.S. shops including Macy’s, Walgreens, Subway, Noah’s Bagels, American Eagle, Bloomingdale’s, Peet’s Coffee, Toys ‘R’ Us and others. Google will also be offering prepaid Google Mastercards which you can recharge with funds from another card or bank account and when you sign up for a Google Prepaid Card you will be credited with $10 for free into your prepaid account. There will also be Google Offers which will tie in with Google Wallet that sends you an “offer of the day” that you can take advantage of by paying with your Google Wallet.

In terms of security all credit card information will be encrypted on the NFC chip which is separate from the Android’s device memory and only accessible by authorized programs. Users can also set a PIN request to unlock their phones or when they want to open their Google Wallet.

Sounds like Google Wallet is starting to shape up rather nicely and with so many shops and partners ready we can only wonder how the other carriers and ISIS will be able to compete or what they can come up with.

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Fairphone 2 Begins To Ship

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fairphone2The Fairphone 2 was first unveiled in June earlier this year, where this particular handset carried a modular design while featuring majority of its components that have been sourced from conflict-free mines. It seems that this particular handset that you can purchase with a clear conscience has begun to ship to those who happen to live across Europe.

Fairphone announced in a blog post, “It’s been almost two years in the making, and some of the earliest buyers have been patiently waiting since July to receive their new phones. As community manager, I want to personally welcome the new batch of Fairphone owners to our community.” The initial 1,000 units are tipped to ship this month, before the other pre-orders follow in January 2016.

In terms of hardware specifications, the Fairphone 2 will run on a Snapdragon 801 chipset, has a 5″ 1080p screen with Gorilla Glass 3 protection, 2GB of RAM, an 8MP camera, with Android 5.1 Lollipop in tow. It will be a dual SIM capable handset with a microSD memory card slot and plays nice with 4G LTE networks, retailing for approximately €525 a pop.

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Xiaomi Mi 5 Carries NFC Feature

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xiaomi-zimiIt looks like the upcoming flagship model from Xiaomi will feature NFC support, at least based on a document that was released by China UnionPay. Just in case you are scratching your head and wondering who China UnionPay is, they happen to be the only domestic payment gateway supplier and card organization, and hence, to see them offer detailed support concerning the newly released NFC-based payment system points to the very real possibility of the upcoming Xiaomi Mi 5 featuring NFC capability.

After all, the Xiaomi Mi 3 was also mentioned on the list, which so happens to feature NFC, and there is no mention of the Xiaomi Mi 4 which does not come with NFC. Still, such a new payment system would be the ideal tool to see the reintroduction of NFC to the flagship model.

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OnePlus X Ceramic Limited Edition Available From Today

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oneplus-x-ceramicOnePlus did make an announcement in the previous month that the Ceramic variant of the OnePlus X will be released on November 24. True to their word, they did exactly that – although only a pitiful number of units were made available, and not only that, this was through a charity auction. Thankfully for the rest of the masses who are on the lookout for this device, it has gone on sale officially already.

Needless to say, this particular variant is available only by an invitation, although do bear in mind that standard OnePlus X invites are not good here – you will still need to snag yourself a specific Ceramic variant invite before you make a purchase. OnePlus is also on the lookout to offer additional methods of picking up this smartphone, although no further details were revealed.

The OnePlus X Ceramic will be available only in select markets, where among them include Europe, India, and Hong Kong. To date, we do know that OnePlus had made only 10,000 units of the handset available. A case of the early bird getting the proverbial worm here?

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