Windows 10 for phone to support NFC payments similar to Apple Pay

Microsoft wants owners of Windows 10 for phones to pay for goods and services similar to howApple Pay works for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. It detailed those plans last week at a presentation at its WinHEC 2015 hardware conference in China.

You may remember that Softcard released NFC-based "Tap to Pay" apps for Windows Phone in November for Verizon and T-Mobile, and then a few months later announced those apps would be shut down on March 31, due to Google acquiring their technology for use in Google Wallet.

During WinHEC 2015 Microsoft revealed that Windows 10 for phones will support Host Card Emulation (HCE). HCE will allow any smartphone with Windows 10 and NFC hardware to transmit payments from the device to an NFC terminal designed to receive that money but without needing a special secure app like Softcard. It also won't require any secure SIMs from wireless carriers. The slide shows that VISA, MasterCard and American Express are supporting this feature.

HCI is already supported in Google's Android since Android 4.4.

Another slide shows that Windows 10 will also support "Tap to pair" for NFC hardware so it can pair with a Wi-Fi Direct device via Wi-Fi Protected Setup. It will also support tapping to a Miracast dongle, presumably so that the screen for a Windows 10 smartphone can be mirrored to a larger screen that has such a dongle installed.

It's possible that not every Windows 10 smartphone will have NFC support but those devices that do contain the hardware should be able to pay for things at the grocery store, restaurants or other locations that have an NFC payment solution. We should learn a lot more about Microsoft's plans for this part of Windows 10 in late April as part of its Build 2015 developer conference.

Image & News Courtesy Windows Central

Latest Analog Clock Tile update adds multiple tile and custom background support

Analog Clock Tile is a popular app for Windows Phones that puts an analog clock on your start screen. The app has been bumped to version 3, bringing multiple tile and custom backgrounds support. It's quite the update and one we're sure fans of the app will welcome with unlocked lockscreens.

If you're not familiar with Analog Clock Tile, the app takes advantage of changes in Windows Phone 8.1 where Microsoft allows developers to update live tiles every minute, making a clock tile actually viable. This also means 8.1 is required to be able to use this app. Here's what is new in version 3:

• Multiple tiles support
• Custom background colors
• Time zones support
• Memory and bandwidth optimizations for low-spec phones

Now you can pin numerous clocks to your start screen. memory and bandwidth optimizations could prove to be a massive improvement alone for those rocking low-end hardware. Interested in trying out Analog Clock Tile? It's available for free on the store.

Download Analog Clock Title for Windows Phone (free)

Image & News Courtesy Windows Central