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Samsung is looking to make NFC mainstream with the release of TecTiles, programmable NFC-enabled stickers designed to help automate your phone and your life. The idea is simple: assign one of numerous functions to a tag, apply the tag to a relevant place, and tap with your phone to launch an app, toggle WiFi, check in to an establishment on Foursquare, ‘like’ a page on Facebook, and more. This isn’t the first time we have seen the concept, but Samsung has obviously done their homework here and delivered a product that is straightforward and intuitive. The video below demonstrates how easy these things are to use and provides a brief walkthrough showing how to program a TecTile sticker using Samsung’s accompanying app.
While Samsung’s decision to downplay the NFC aspect of the tags may be doing a disservice to customers and the technology, the fact that TecTiles are setup to work out of the box (provided you have an NFC-enabled device) is welcomed and, given the popularity of the Galaxy S franchise, should help to spread adoption of NFC on a larger scale. TecTiles will be sold at all major carriers stocking the Galaxy S III.
Anyone out there have a good idea for how to use TecTiles? Let us know in the comments below.
Like I said in the previous article, they NEED to advertise this sort of functionality before the fruit claims they came up with it!
I hear you. I have no idea if they are doing TV advertisements though as I don’t have TV service. I’ve only seen this tech on Phandroid, XDA and Engadget. Anyone seen any kind of advertisement whatsoever? It’s a pretty awesome idea.
In the long run I can see this being used for inventory in a warehouse.
stick one on a car dock to set the media and or call volume to max, thats my plan and to make it open Pandora or play music
I have a lot of NFC tags. I have 2 in my car and one at home that are currently in use. One in the car to turn off wifi, turn on pandora, turn up all volumes. One to turn down all volumes. The one at home enables wifi and turns up all volumes plus it turns on my Media Controller app.
Props to Samsung being the first major manufacturer making these stickers a big deal. I’ve been using stickers with NFC Task Launcher since last year and they are real convenient for stuff but the programming is pretty limited.
Samsung can pull an Apple with these stickers and make it seem like they invented NFC.
Is there an option for password protecting these tectiles? If i place this in my store, I don’t want random people over-writing it with junk.
I haven’t used them yet, but they say they’re lockable.
I know for a fact you can make a tag read-only and at that point I think it’s permanent.
Has anyone made the apk available for Nexus users? I haven’t been able to find it.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.samsung.tectile&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5zYW1zdW5nLnRlY3RpbGUiXQ..
can you use one tile to turn WiFi on and off? Coming/leaving destination?
Yup.
Not available in the UK :(
I haven’t tried this yet but it would be cool to put one of the sticker near your front door, and then program it to turn off your AC.
There are a number of internet connected thermostats out there with smartphone app (like Nest)
You should take a look at this NFC Enabled Business-card much more advanced or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRWgEDtPciQ
Still don’t know why you wouldn’t just use Tasker for all this….
Using NFC tags, the Galaxy S III can quickly and easily run apps, change settings, or perform a plethora of other actions with a simple tap. If you’ve heard of an app called Tasker, it essentially performs the same process but with location based functionality.
More about What are Samsung’s NFC TecTiles for the Samsung Galaxy and what do they do?
Just ordered some up – I’m stoked to try them out with my GNex!