Nokia X Android phones

Nokia X Android phone's: Life in the Fastlane

By design, Nokia's new Android smartphones will underwhelm users of high-end phones. The Nokia X line was created with emerging markets in mind, so the company emphasised keeping prices low, meaning the user interface is relatively simple.

The home screen resembles the one on Nokia's Windows-based Lumia phones, even though it's Android underneath. But Nokia Corp. added a Fastlane feature, a screen with quick access to your most-used apps. You get to it by swiping from the left or right edge of the home screen or tapping the back button at the bottom.

The basic Nokia X phone costs 89 euros ($122) and has a 4-inch screen, measured diagonally, and a 3 megapixel camera. A X+ version with an SD storage card costs 99 euros, while an XL with a 5-inch screen and 5 megapixel camera goes for 109 euros.

In the brief time I've had with the Nokia X at this week's Mobile World Congress wireless show in Barcelona, Spain, I have found the Fastlane feature to be a good start. It's something I would like to see on more phones, including Nokia's Windows devices.

I hate to spend time customising gadgets, getting the icons for the most-used apps on the main home screen. The nice thing about Fastlane is that you don't have to spend any time on that. Your favourite apps are just one swipe away - sort of.

The top of Fastlane shows you what's coming up, whether that's alarms about to ring or future events in your calendar. Below that are your recently used apps. The ones you just used will be at the top, so you don't have to scroll down.

For some apps, you get information that normally comes with notifications, such as previews of text messages or alerts that three people have tried to reach you on WeChat, a Chinese social network. You see small versions of recent photos and can tap for the larger version in the photo gallery app. You see calls you missed, songs you heard and websites you visited.

It could get overwhelming, so you can block certain apps and certain notifications from appearing in Fastlane. In the settings, you can also add a shortcut to one social network, such as Facebook or Twitter.

That's where Fastlane can improve - understanding better which apps I use most over a period of days or months and creating a section at the top for those.

This week, for example, I was too busy to check Facebook, but that doesn't mean I don't use it regularly. But in Fastlane, Facebook would drop toward the bottom in a matter of days, unless I happen to choose it as my one shortcut.

Why not make sure the most-used apps are stored as favourites at the top of the screen? Nokia says it's considering that.

Likewise, if I haven't used something for months after using it daily, Fastlane can assume I've grown tired of it and automatically remove it. Myspace anyone?

Nokia doesn't plan to make Fastlane for its Windows phones, and I doubt it'll extend it to rival Android phones, such as my Samsung Galaxy S III. It's something it wants to keep exclusive to its own phones to compete.

TAPPING ON MY PHONE TO PAY FOR SOMETHING FEELS TRULY FUTURISTIC

TAPPING ON MY PHONE TO PAY FOR SOMETHING FEELS TRULY FUTURISTIC

I’m happy with Loop’s reliability, but less so with its initial product designs. The Loop Fob is a bit chunky, and only holds one card at a time. (Coin solved this problem with an onboard screen and card-switching button, but it remains to be seen how well it actually works in practice.) I ended up carrying around both the Fob and my wallet just in case, which defeats the purpose of the Fob. Perhaps if it were much smaller, like a Mobil Speedpass, I’d bring it with everywhere.

TAPPING ON MY PHONE TO PAY FOR SOMETHING FEELS TRULY FUTURISTIC

       The Loop ChargeCase is a more logical form factor that provides both backup power and payment capabilities. The ChargeCase is essentially a cheaper-feeling Mophie: it can be activated either with a quick button press on its side, or using the Loop Wallet app. Inside the app, you can flip through all the cards you’ve scanned in, then tap one to transmit its magnetic signal to a credit card reader. Tapping on my phone to pay for something feels truly futuristic, like the Google Wallet promotional videos of yore. This was the promise of Google Wallet, but it’s Loop that delivers. And Loop says it’s already working on a new version of the ChargeCase with a removable Loop card you can hand to waiters and bartenders.

Loop worked at most credit card machines I tried aside from subway-ticketing machines, gas pumps, and ATMs that require you to fully stick in a card for a scan to take place. Loop has hacked its own way to working at these kinds of terminals — it involves sticking another card into the reader slot, and then pressing a Loop device against it — but it’s not worth the trouble. Loop also didn’t work at Duane Reade, a popular chain of drugstores in New York, but Loop says this is only because Duane Reade hasn’t upgraded the software in its credit card readers. At Walgreen’s and Staples, the credit card readers accepted debit card transmissions via Loop, but not credit card transmissions. They require a software upgrade too, it seems. But despite the hiccups, Loop worked in far more places than any mobile payments app or hardware I’ve ever tried. The company solved a big piece of the payments puzzle — but in doing so, revealed another enormous obstacle blocking the path of any mobile payments startup.

In your pocket Wrap-up

                 Loop’s biggest problem is that it’s a waste of time. It feels magical to use, but isn’t worth the additional 10 or 15 seconds it takes to explain to each and every cashier. At a bar or restaurant, handing over my phone or Fob while yelling instructions over the chatter of other patrons was both awkward and impractical. And even if a friendly cashier doesn’t ask any questions before trying out Loop, they almost always ask questions afterwards. I felt like I was not only wasting my time, but the time of the people in line behind me, like the main character in that one VISA commercial.

      Hardware ubiquity, as it turns out, is only half of NFC’s problem. The other half is that it requires cashiers to trust you aren’t trying to hack them by touching your gadget to their credit card reader. Even if Loop works at every register, it doesn’t compute for every cashier. Acceptance may come in time as more cashiers learn about Loop, but I have a feeling that true ubiquity would only come from corporate executives formally deploying new systems as Starbucks and Whole Foods have done with Square readers. Or perhaps even from Isis.

                                                                                    

COMPARE IT

Loop Fob

6.3VERGE SCOREWRITE REVIEW

GOOD STUFF

• Impressive magnetic transmission tech
• Dead simple to use
• Two-month battery life
• Very reliable

BAD STUFF

• Requires convincing cashiers to let you try it
• Only holds one card at a time
• Bulkier than a stack of credit cards

AFTER TWO WEEKS,                                 I WAS EXCITED TO START SWIPING MY CREDIT CARD AGAIN

After two weeks, I was excited to start swiping my credit card again. As impressive as the company’s technology is, credit cards aren’t ready to be disrupted in America just yet. The fact is, credit cards are simple, lightweight, replaceable, and every cashier knows what to do with them. The viral success of companies like Coin show that people want ways to “go digital” and slim down their wallet, but not in ways that inconvenience them. Even companies like Coin face disruption as America slowly but surely embraces “chip-and-PIN” cards the way European countries have for years. Perhaps if Loop were acquired by Samsung or Apple, built into their devices, and marketed as “the new way to pay,” it could find success. Wallner says, in fact, that any phone with built-in NFC or inductive charging components could add Loop capabilities with less than a dollar in parts. The company says it expects a few of its OEM partners, which it declined to name, to debut Loop hardware inside their phones in 2015. But for now, Loop, like NFC, is ultimately limited by both its convenience and utility. Neither yet adds enough convenience or removes enough hassle to become essential.

NFC promised wonders, but failed to deliver in the US. Loop fulfills NFC’s promise to let you pay anywhere with your phone, and it works. But for me, it doesn’t.