What to choose: NFC featured HTC One M9 or Samsung Pay from Galaxy S6?
If mobile payments are an important part of your life and you’re undecided between HTC One M9 and Galaxy S6, let me tell you from the start that Samsung managed to capture my attention. The Korean manufacturer has something that HTC One M9 is missing.
HTC One M9 has its built-in NFC, there is no mystery in that, while back at MWC 2015, Samsung announced Samsung Pay, a mobile payment platform that still uses NFC, but along with a proprietary technology known as Magnetic Secure Transmission, which means it will also work with traditional magstripe card terminals and not only with NFC terminals.
Which one would you choose; should it be the traditional NFC from HTC One M9 or the new Samsung Pay from Galaxy S6?
Let’s find out more about both these options before jumping to any conclusion. After all, the world of contactless mobile payments can be really tricky and you don’t want to make any mistake.
Samsung Pay from Galaxy S6
As I’ve said it from the start, Samsung introduced its unique Samsung Pay, an innovative payment service that includes the option to pay with a wireless card swipe. Unlike the Google Wallet payments that use NFC, which is something that the HTC One M9 smartphone includes, Samsung Pay sends a magnetic swipe to a regular card reader wirelessly.
When it comes to its actual launch, rumors suggest July 2015 in South Korea and the US, so it’s a matter of a few days. However, even if the idea is indeed interesting, keep in mind that it’ll only work with the company’s Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge flagship models at first and we have no idea how secure it is in reality. And even after this payment service will be made available to more Samsung handsets, we know for sure that it will only work with banks who partner with Samsung Pay.
NFC from HTC One M9
Although they have being available in the UK since 2011, NFC mobile payments are not that popular as they should be. Some say that using NFC is an insecure method, but I say exactly the contrary and I encourage you to use it on your HTC One M9 smartphone. Using your HTC device as a mobile wallet is no different than using a credit or debit card. You basically have to set up PIN protection for each payment to be sure that you won’t have any problems, and if your phone is lost or stolen a quick call to your mobile payment service will block and refund any potential fraudulent purchases.
Others argue that using NFC is not a good option as long as your HTC’s One M9 battery dictates when or if you can make payments or not. Once again, this is nothing more than a rumor. You should know about a residual power found in all NFC chips, so they’ll still work after the battery is almost out of its precious juice.
So, what do you say? Samsung’s Pay from Galaxy S6 is fresh and tempting, but at least you know that HTC’s One M9 NFC, although it has been there for years, is still working and it has been constantly improved. The choice is all yours!
