NFC

Now much of the world might think this is going to be about football, but noooooo, this is about near field communications - technology that turns your phone into your wallet and virtually does away with the need for credit cards or cash. If i had investment capital, I would be buying some stocks...

Companies like ISIS will provide software, though i can see many jumping on that bandwagon once the hardware companies get going. The question is, will you, Lucy and Ricky Consumer, buy in.

The new technology is for electronic payments but not with a credit or debit card, rather, with your phone... Convenient, sure, but how secure is the question. What if you lose your phone, can you call it from another phone, download all it's information securely by entering some code in your new phone, and then push a button on your new phone to make your old phone self destruct?. Kind of like mission:impossible, but will passwords be enough protection? How about a fingerprint scanner, that should be a simple and secure addition.

So you have a way to wave your phone like a magic wand and create an electronic transaction. The next question is will merchants do their part? Are they going to invest in the hardware and software needed?

Of course they will, eventually, and so will you, eventually, when everyone is as sure as we can be that it is as safe and secure as the current system of monetary transaction, the credit or bank card. The question is how long will that be and more, from an investment perspective, which company will emerge as the leader in hardware and software production for the new NFC world.

Something to ponder if you've got money to invest.

inspired

well, i certainly hope so... cuz i bought one, an HTC Inspire 4g, that is... i am not promoting AT&T here, cuz they've got lots of flaws and destroyed my main website without enough warning for me to save it after it had up for more than 10 years and their service is mediocre, but then, who expects more than mediocre from a phone company?... so with that said, i suppose i shouldn't expect much from HTC and so far, my expectations have not been exceeded...

i am on my fourth HTC Inspire 4G in 24 hours... yes, three exchanges in 24 hours... this last time they found a way to give me the phone for free, which is excellent service, so a bit of the sour taste that may never go away because eracing ten years of my website building and personal writing is a lot to forgive was lifted today, but i am still paying more for phone service than i would with any other carrier and the service is no longer the best because AT&T is way behind in the 4G race... Verizon's 4G LTE has the clear lead there, but i am loyal (or stupid) and follow the devil you know philosophy when it comes to phone companies...

the HTC Inspire 4G is an impressive phone, when it works... there is a clear battery issue in that they boosted all the power needs without upgrading the battery in order to keep the phone thin and not make it heavier than it is... outstanding screen, decent, but not wonderfully intuitive interface, and all the android apps for fun and whatever... the issue so far has been the phone operation (and maybe the point is that is not why people buy a smart phone after all)...

the first phone out of the box at radio shack who was charged half of what AT&T was charging could not read the SIM card... they created a new SIM card and nothing... they tried it with known working SIM cards from their own phones and nothing... the second phone out of the box, same thing... the third phone out of the box actually read the SIM card, whoopie... so after three hours of trial and error, i walked out of radio shack with a working phone and a whole lot to learn...

i only went into radio shack because AT&T did not have any accessories for the phone... irony... i called HTC customer support to let them know about my HTC buying experience, to ask them if they had any plans for upgrading the battery cuz it was definitely inadequate for the souped up phone, and to find out where to get the right accessories for the phone cuz they weren't even available on the HTC website...

the next day, which would be today, i find the phone suddenly (like from one call to another after a five minute break) stopped sending my voice to callers... three different callers could not hear me... so i called HTC customer support and they couldn't hear me either... microphone problems, i heard the csr say with advice to take the phone back for an exchange...

so i went back to radio shack and asked for a refund... they were not pleased and tried every trick in the book and then credited my credit card and i walked over to the AT&T store and explained that i needed a phone today and i didn't want to hear that it takes a few days to transfer the upgrade and when the store guy said there might not be anything i could do but wait a few days i said fine, cancel my AT&T service i'll walk a few doors down and get a different provider... the guy asked me to wait a minute while he goes into the back to see the manager and see what he could do...

when he came out he said they were able to get the ungrade reinstated immediately and they were giving me a $100 discount on any phone in the store (except the iPhone) so i got the fourth HTC Inspire 4G for free... heck, if it breaks again, it was free and i have 30 days to exchange...

the basic choices for me, after researching fror several hours, was the HTC, the Motorola Atrix 4G, and the iPhone 4... the latter is the most reliable based on track record, but $200 without accessories everywhere... the Atrix is $200 at AT&T and $149 at radio shack without accessories... and the Inspire is $99 at AT&T and $49 at radio shack... the Atrix is a monster, the first dual-processor phone and other major upgrades including a computer dock, but maybe too much too soon because all reports say it's buggy and overpriced... so i went with the Inspire because they major flaw is battery life and that just means get a spare battery ($10 at radio shack) and charge it nightly... and when i almost splurged on the iPhone after three strikes, the Inspire for free brought home a fourth try...

so, the HTC Inspire 4G... poor battery, but so far, i see potential for much fun and usefulness and great screen graphics (and 8MP camera)... as far as how good a phone it is for simply making and receiving calls, the jury is out...