May 102013
Samsung TecTiles (5-Pack), Programmable Near Field Communication Tags for Samsung NFC Galaxy S3, S2, S, Note 2, Note and NFC Enabled Phones
- Make a tag to set your phone up the way you like it when you get to work, or when you get in your car.
- Make a tag to launch any app you have on your phone. You can even set music volume for music players or internet radio applications.
- Make a tag that will connect a phone to your WiFi network. Great for visitors to scan when they arrive!
Samsung TecTile is an app which lets you read & write NFC tags (TecTiles). You can create TecTiles to change settings on your phone, launch applications, check-in to places, update social status, or even make phone calls or send text messages automatically. Once you create a TecTile using the TecTile app, place the Tile in a convenient place, then tap your phone to the TecTile to perform the action stored in the TecTile.
List Price: $ 14.99
Price: $ 4.99
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Lots of potential, reliable but still needs work,
I upgraded to a Samsung Galaxy Nexus (an NFC-capable device) the same week that Samsung announced TecTiles, so I was excited to give them a try. As the video from Samsung and many reviewers suggested, I was most looking forward to sticking one in my office, my car and on my nightstand to quickly apply a batch of settings.
The underlying technology of the TecTiles works great – any time my phone is powered-on and unlocked, I can wave it over a TecTile tag and it reads reliably. The shortcoming of this product is on the software side – specifically, the TecTiles app that Samsung provides to accompany the physical tags. While the app does allow you to adjust phone settings, the useful options are limited. You can turn individual peripherals (such as WiFi, Bluetooth, etc.) on and off, set the ringer volume, and set an alarm, among other less-interesting settings. The app also features a “toggle” setting for turning things on and off; it hasn’t worked for me, defaulting to turning the associated peripheral to the “on” state every time.
More importantly, while the app provides a variety of actions your phone can take after scanning a TecTile, they are grouped into mutually-exclusive categories. There doesn’t appear to be a way to program actions from more than one category into a single TecTile. For example, I prefer the standard alarm clock to the one bundled into the TecTiles app, so I’d like to set my nightstand tag to set my ringer volume to vibrate and launch the standard Android alarm clock app. Unfortunately, since the settings and the “launch any app” actions are in different categories, I can’t program a single tag to perform them both.
Overall, the TecTiles product has a lot of potential, but the accompanying Samsung app is a letdown in terms of capability. I hope that Samsung will allow more flexible programming of tag actions, and add more actions to the list of what’s possible. I also look forward to seeing what the maker/modder community will come up with to leverage these tags!
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|1000′s of uses and super simple,
This is a great product and excellent use of the NFC capabilities that are in some phones. I was getting tired of always changing the settings on my phone (Samsung Galaxy Nexus) depending on where I was at. I would have the ringer up when I was in my car and then when I got to work, sometimes I would forget to turn it off only to have it ring loudly in my very quiet office building. Then when I left work I would forget to turn the volume up again and would miss a lot of calls.
Once I read about these little stickers and what you could do with them I was excited to try them out. I bought the TecTiles and downloaded the required app (which is free), and began programming the TechTiles right away. It could not be easier. The app is really easy to use and it gives you a good selection of options to work with.
Some of the options include…
-Ringer volume
-Music volume
-Bluetooth on/off
-Alarm set
-Screen brightness
-WiFi on/off and Join a WiFi Network
-Launch an App
-Show a message
-Make a phone call
-Send a text
-Share a contact
-Open a web page
-Show a address or location
-Social media Foursquare, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn
These can be used for so many things. Like I mentioned, I use them for changing my settings on my phone. I have one at home, in my car, and in my office. My home TecTile turns my WiFi on, ringer volume up, BT off, and screen brightness to medium. The TecTile in my car turns WiFi off, ringer volume up, BT on, music volume up, and screen brightness to auto. My work one turns my phone to vibrate and WiFi and BT off. It couldn’t be easier. Now my settings are where I want them all the time without having to change each option in all the menus/widgets.
To program it, all you do is select the options you want, choose ok in the app, hold it over the TecTile and a second later it is all programmed. Just wave your phone over the tile and whatever function you programmed, instantly starts working on your phone.
I can also see these being a great item for business owners. They could put them in their store or shop for customers to easily access their WiFi, have the business website pop up on the phone, have the business contact info added to the customers phone, use it to get Liked on Facebook, and there are a ton more ideas you could do with it. Another nice feature is the ability to program and lock the tile so other people can not change it.
IMPORTANT!!- Your phone MUST have NFC capability! If your phone does not have it or you are not sure, then do not buy these. They will not work for you.
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|Use the “NFC Task Launcher” app! UPDATE.,
I received my Samsung TecTile Tags yesterday and they work well with my new Galaxy S3, even though I leave the S3 in its protective case. The sales site seems a bit coy, but you receive FIVE of these fingerprint-sized self-sticking TecTiles.
Reading over previous comments, I ignored Samsung’s app and downloaded the free “NFC Task Launcher” into my phone.
Programming with the NFC Task Launcher is a no-brainer. The first thing I did was program one TecTile to turn off WiFi and turn on Bluetooth. Then I stuck it in my car’s phone mount so my phone automatically syncs for hands-free operation. Then I programmed another TecTile to do just the opposite: turn off Bluetooth and turn on WiFi when I get home.
The TecTiles are erasable and you can program multiple commands into a single tile. I’m still dreaming up cool stuff to avoid all that laborious button pushing–snort!
UPDATE: I programmed a third “car” TecTile to turn off WiFi, turn on Bluetooth, boost screen brightness to 80% and turn on Navigation. All on ONE tile–neat!
Then I programmed another TecTile to shut all this stuff down when I exit the car. Fun stuff, and somewhat useful.
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