Question about NFC tags

[Kaitlyn2004]

Had a question about NFC tags... I'm seeing a bunch of coverage on them lately and it looks like it indeed could be useful.

It seems you would almost need 2 tags per "action" though.

I'd love to have one at work, but wouldn't I need one for "arrive at work" and "leave work" to turn on/off certain things?

I did see (at least some) apps that make use of TOGGLE - however, what if for example I had a Car NFC which I want to turn on bluetooth when I get in, and turn it off when I get out - what if I happened to enable bluetooth earlier - maybe listening to a bluetooth speaker? This would create an inconsistency and kind of break the toggle (assuming I was toggling multiple things, at least...)

Still trying to read through and thoroughly understand it - any insight from people who actually use these on a daily basis?

Seems like these NFC taskers need to create a new service to always listen to NFC - is that true? Are they battery killers?

Lastly - any recommendations on where to pick some NFC tags up?

 

[kevinliu2336]

I'm no NFC expert but I do use it with the Tagstand NFC Task Launcher.
1. You don't need 2 tag with NFC Launcher for, like you said, it can toggle. Toggle works by performing Action 1 the first time its scanned and then Action 2 the second time its scanned.

2. Say, for example, Action 1 says to turn on Bluetooth and Action 2 says to turn it off. You scan it and it performs Action 1 but its already on, it will do nothing (wont create some universe shattering paradox ). Then if you have take the phone off the tag and scan it again it will turn Bluetooth off (Action 2) and then loop back to action 1 and so on.

3. On our phone, if not all of them (idk), the NFC chip is only on when the screen is on. A mod found here enables it to be on always but this eats battery life.

4. I currently use Tagstand's own NFC stickers from their store and they are pretty cheap and work great. buynfctags.com has then cheaper but the blank ones have a minimum order of 5 and the custom printed ones have a minimum order of 250.

VERY IMPORTANT!- The Nexus 4 wont work with Mifare Classic 1K Stickers, these include Samsung tech-tiles, because they use proprietary standards (see here for more).All truly NFC compliant tags will work, eg. The Type 2 (NTAG203) and Type 1 (Topaz 512) stickers.

 

[Neoprimal]

NFC stuff is great, don't get me wrong. But there are alternatives so I just wanted to offer some suggestions just in case you weren't aware. I'm writing this based on your "work" scenario.

I do a LOT of the stuff that you can do with NFC Task Launcher etc. with automation apps. You can in fact, do all the basics you can do with NFC with automation apps, the bonus of NFC is being able to pin point areas and to design complex macros. I've used Tasker in the past but right now I use llama primarily.

For me, NFC is more of a boon in "trusted" areas, like in my home, my car or say at work vs. out and about. I'll admit I'm slightly paranoid about nfc scanners/readers siphoning information right out of my phone. It's very highly unlikely but tech has gotten all the better and thieves are getting super creative - we're also making it so very easy for them. The culprit would have to be close to me and in case of our devices, the screen would need to be on, but that wouldn't be difficult in a cinema or in a crowded area. My habit right now is to disable it unless I'm home or have a reason to use it while out. Eventually I'll source a nice case for my phone and tablet that blocks it, then I can leave it enabled.

So, yeah...keep the alternatives in mind if you're just interested in basics. I set my wife's llama to set her phone to the silent profile when at work. She's not allowed to use her phone there but I hate her turning it off because sometimes she doesn't remember to turn it on when leaving but rather when driving on the way home. So her llama sets the phone to full silence when in her office and as soon as she leaves the garage it sets it to normal.

As I mentioned, with NFC it's more about the ability to pin point within certain areas and design more complex conditions. For example, llama can detect when I leave my home but it can't detect when I've moved from my office into my kitchen or into my bedroom. This entire area is just, Home. Maybe it could if I trained it but goodness knows I would hate to have to set adjustments based on each of the areas in my home anyway. NFC allows you to focus on the actual area. I haven't found a whole lot of use yet for my tags, but I do have one in my kitchen and bathroom which starts music on my N7. Of course, that's just really, really lazy of me vs. useful. There's also one in my car's phone mount that is set to turn on navigation when I mount the phone but I don't use that one since I have to enable GPS manually anyway.

Kevin has said everything re: the use of the tags and the stores. Some additional stores are here. Like him, I got mine from Tagstand because they look nice, were pretty cheap and they do try to beat competitor prices.

Good Luck.

Had a question about NFC tags... I'm seeing a bunch of coverage on them lately and it looks like it indeed could be useful.

It seems you would almost need 2 tags per "action" though.

I'd love to have one at work, but wouldn't I need one for "arrive at work" and "leave work" to turn on/off certain things?

I did see (at least some) apps that make use of TOGGLE - however, what if for example I had a Car NFC which I want to turn on bluetooth when I get in, and turn it off when I get out - what if I happened to enable bluetooth earlier - maybe listening to a bluetooth speaker? This would create an inconsistency and kind of break the toggle (assuming I was toggling multiple things, at least...)

Still trying to read through and thoroughly understand it - any insight from people who actually use these on a daily basis?

Seems like these NFC taskers need to create a new service to always listen to NFC - is that true? Are they battery killers?

Lastly - any recommendations on where to pick some NFC tags up?

 

[donec]

Does anyone know the real max range possible of the NFC system the Nexus 4 uses or the range other devices can interface with it at? I guess really I am trying to find out if there is a way to increase the range from the official .2m / 8" to something farther away. I am trying to figure out how far away from my phone someone needs to be to read my info if I have my NFC turned on?

 

[SpartusTana]

Does anyone know the real max range possible of the NFC system the Nexus 4 uses or the range other devices can interface with it at? I guess really I am trying to find out if there is a way to increase the range from the official .2m / 8" to something farther away. I am trying to figure out how far away from my phone someone needs to be to read my info if I have my NFC turned on?

well for the chips in our phones, it usually needs to be within 1 inch, like a key fob RFID scanner. I've heard CLAIMS that people can do it from across a room, although I don't believe the chip has enough power to make such a connection at that distance. (Someone correct me if I'm truly wrong, because I'm curious too).

For NFC chips, it usually requires that the chip touch a specific part of the back of the phone. Same with Google Wallet on pay pass. NFC is pretty neat and can be used for various things. Like wallet, tags, sharing items with another phone, etc.

 

[hollywoodfrodo]

Had a question about NFC tags... I'm seeing a bunch of coverage on them lately and it looks like it indeed could be useful.

It seems you would almost need 2 tags per "action" though.

I'd love to have one at work, but wouldn't I need one for "arrive at work" and "leave work" to turn on/off certain things?

I did see (at least some) apps that make use of TOGGLE - however, what if for example I had a Car NFC which I want to turn on bluetooth when I get in, and turn it off when I get out - what if I happened to enable bluetooth earlier - maybe listening to a bluetooth speaker? This would create an inconsistency and kind of break the toggle (assuming I was toggling multiple things, at least...)

Still trying to read through and thoroughly understand it - any insight from people who actually use these on a daily basis?

Seems like these NFC taskers need to create a new service to always listen to NFC - is that true? Are they battery killers?

Lastly - any recommendations on where to pick some NFC tags up?

Well, the confusion is in the word "Toggle" - instead for NFC Apps let's call them "Switch Tags". This means the first time you tap them, the execute one set of commands and the second time you tap them they execute a second set of commands. But these commands can be anything. So for example you wouldn't have either set of commands "toggle" Bluetooth - instead, you'd have it "Turn BT On" or "Turn BT Off". If you're BT was already in the state then nothing would happen.

NFC was developed to use very little power - part of the reason why the range is very small and you have to pretty much tap a tag. The affect on your battery leaving NFC enabled will be barely noticeable. The apps themselves are not "always on" - the tag is programmed to trigger the app when your phone's nfc antenna detects the tag.

As for where to pick up tags, of course I'd recommend AndyTags, but I'm biased. You can check them out, but there are lots of great places to get tags. For the Nexus 4 phone, make sure to get NTAG203 tags.

 

[Prelude38]

Hey I am still confused on these NFC Tags. I watched some video on how it works and it looks pretty awesome but i have some questions.

For example. I have a phone holder in my car. i only use it when i use my GPS. i want to paste an NFC Tag on the holder so every time I place the phone in the holder it turns on my GPS, launches my GPS app, and maybe turns off my Wifi. From what I have seen this can easily be done.

Here is the part I am confused about. When the phone is in the holder it will be right beside the tag. What effect does that have on the tag? Is it constantly communicating?

The feature i really want is this: when I remove the phone from the holder and away from the tag can I program it to turn off the "car settings"?

So I am wondering if I can use a phone holder and NFC tags to create a dock(without the charging). Put the phone on the dock and leave it there and it changes to "car settings" and keeps it at that setting. Take the phone out of the "dock" settings turn back to non-car settings.

everything i see involves tapping.

 

[ksilver89]

Hey I am still confused on these NFC Tags. I watched some video on how it works and it looks pretty awesome but i have some questions.

For example. I have a phone holder in my car. i only use it when i use my GPS. i want to paste an NFC Tag on the holder so every time I place the phone in the holder it turns on my GPS, launches my GPS app, and maybe turns off my Wifi. From what I have seen this can easily be done.

Here is the part I am confused about. When the phone is in the holder it will be right beside the tag. What effect does that have on the tag? Is it constantly communicating?

The feature i really want is this: when I remove the phone from the holder and away from the tag can I program it to turn off the "car settings"?

So I am wondering if I can use a phone holder and NFC tags to create a dock(without the charging). Put the phone on the dock and leave it there and it changes to "car settings" and keeps it at that setting. Take the phone out of the "dock" settings turn back to non-car settings.

everything i see involves tapping.

The tag is only a marker, in Stock ROM you need to actually unlock your phone before your NFC will start pooling (There are mods for this so no worries). The actions are all programmable depending on what kind of apps you use to program it, that's all!

Personally I find tasker to be more useful than NFC tag. I don't buy all the marketing gimmicks.

 

[thfreedumb]

I have started to tinker with NFC tags.

Is there a way to start the stock android clock timer (from zero or a countdown from a preset time) using nfc tags? I tried NFC task launcher but it just uses their own in app timer, which im not a fan of (it doesn't show time remaining/elapsed and all that stuff). Or maybe an automation app that can be triggered by a nfc task.