Google Nexus 7 and NFC tags - are you using them?

[Mattylad]

Hello, is anyone using NFC tags with their Nexus 7?

What are you using yours for?

The idea looks cool to me, one in the car to run the sat nav app, one on my bedside table to turn to low power and turn on the alarm app etc, my work desk for something and so on.

What do you reckon to getting some from a supermarket? can I perhaps use them?

I can see I need the NTAG203 type, although large capacity ones are quite expensive so might start with some of these to play with.

Has anyone any verified info on what happens to battery life with NFC turned on?
I have searched for an nfc toggle but cannot find one, all I can find is power toggles and that brings up the nfc settings rather than toggles it.

 

[Rowdyeh]

Hi Mattylad. You can find the NFC toggle alongside Wireless and Bluetooth settings in Settings. Check the manual that came with your Nexus 7 how to do that. Of course you should only turn on NFC or Bluetooth while you need them as they will increase battery usage. Enjoy your tablet!

 

[Mattylad]

Cheers, I know where the toggle is - I was referring to a toggle widget to quickly turn it on/off like I do with wifi/gps etc.

 

[grnidkjun]

I'm curious if anyone is actually using this out in the retail world yet. Is anyone utilizing the NFC feature much?

 

[Mattylad]

Well, I have been experimenting with them.

I have some tags with 137bytes of space, this allows about 6 commands max.

Initially I have found them excellent in that I can start the satnav when I put it on the car mount.
However if I leave NFC turned on it continues to detect it 30s later and goes through the routine again.

So the answer is to make it also turn off NFC, but I understand that this cannot be toggled.

I found a way though, turn airplane mode on, this disables NFC and then I can turn on the connections that I do need.

Problem solved.

I also have a tag setup so that I can use it when going shopping at the supermarket, turns on all my shopping apps (sad eh) and one on my desk at work to turn the volume down, trun on wifi and start playing music. (one day I'll find something really useful to do with them).

I can read my passport and anything else that uses RFID tags so will be keeping an eye out when I next find any in the shops.

I'll keep an eye out for some cheap larger capacity tags (1kb) so then I can toggle stuff on and off.

It's fun!

 

[mreine]

Well, I have been experimenting with them.

I have some tags with 137bytes of space, this allows about 6 commands max.

Initially I have found them excellent in that I can start the satnav when I put it on the car mount.
However if I leave NFC turned on it continues to detect it 30s later and goes through the routine again.

So the answer is to make it also turn off NFC, but I understand that this cannot be toggled.

I found a way though, turn airplane mode on, this disables NFC and then I can turn on the connections that I do need.

Problem solved.

I also have a tag setup so that I can use it when going shopping at the supermarket, turns on all my shopping apps (sad eh) and one on my desk at work to turn the volume down, trun on wifi and start playing music. (one day I'll find something really useful to do with them).

I can read my passport and anything else that uses RFID tags so will be keeping an eye out when I next find any in the shops.

I'll keep an eye out for some cheap larger capacity tags (1kb) so then I can toggle stuff on and off.

It's fun!

Here is how to toggle on/off NFC:

I have Galaxy S4 and Nexus 7. I use NFC tags all the time. I am always wanting to get the most battery life out of my devices so I use Tasker and Secure Settings from Play store to automate the process. I dock my phone or tablet in my car mount that has NFC sticker. Tasker recognizes it's docked then turns off screen lock, turns on NFC, scans tag, turns on Car Mode and wirelessly charges the phone/tablet. When I remove from dock, it turns off nfc, off car mode, on screen lock automagically.

Here is a video on how to setup Tasker and Secure Settings, it is AWESOME!

Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:

 

[Music]

Higuys,

I am getting some tags to try for the car. I thought that I would put the tag on the tablet mount, but that seems like a bad idea, so I will put it on the back of the rearview mirror or on the sunvisor?

How much distance do you need so the tablet doesn't detect the tag? Or is there a way to set things up so the tage is only read once?