
Google Pay app for Android - bdcravens
https://blog.google/topics/shopping-payments/say-hello-to-google-pay/
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photonios
In Europe, the availability of contactless payment has been growing like
crazy. I live in Eeastern-Europe and even here I can pay contactless almost
everywhere. And with almost everywhere, I really mean almost everywhere. Even
really tiny stores tucked away in a corner that didn't even support card
payment at all until contactless was on the rise. And with contactless, I
mean, you just tap your card on a reader and that's it. I am not really sure
why I would want to do this with my phone. I'd have to take it out of my
pocket, unlock it to approve the transactions etc. Instead I just put my card
on a read for half a second and I can walk away.

In my home country (Western-Europe), some supermarket chains even support
complete self-checkout. You just grab what you need, scan your items with a
handheld scanner and then pay contactless at one of the payment terminals and
then you're good to go.

Can somebody explain why I'd prefer using my phone over this system?

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what_ever
So that you don't have to carry all of your credits cards everywhere. Credit
Card rewards are much better in US than in Europe and it makes sense to use
certain credit card to make certain kind of transaction. e.g. one of my card
given 3% cashback at restaurants but only 1% at grocery stores. While other
gives 2% at grocery stores.

Plus, if you lose your card/wallet it is a pain to change numbers everywhere.
While you don't need to do that if you lose your phone as real card numbers
are not stored in the pay apps. Besides whoever finds the phone needs to go
pass your lock screen to get anywhere near that.

~~~
photonios
As another comment here points out. People don't really use credit cards here.
Everyone has a debit card which supports contactless payments without a pin up
to €20. Which is enough for most use cases.

Even better, in the country where I live, almost all debit cards have a number
and a Cv2 code. So you can pay online at any place that accepts credit cards.

Transactions are free and instant. Within a second of paying I can see the
transaction in the mobile app of my bank. Hell, it sends notifications for
every transaction if you want.

~~~
hadrien01
> Even better, in the country where I live, almost all debit cards have a
> number and a Cv2 code.

You don't have this in every country?

~~~
photonios
Not in my home country. All banks give out Maestro cards. While the country I
live in right now gives out Visa Electron cards.

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FreakyT
_" It's identical to Android Pay in essentially every way, but it has a fancy
new name!"_

Of all these "$company_name Pay" services, the only one that ever offered
anything unique was Samsung Pay with its ridiculous magnetic-card backwards
compatibility system. I never used it, but from what I read it was apparently
pretty neat, and allowed you to use the phone to pay on any legacy payment
terminal.

~~~
thisisit
I use Samsung Pay for some of the services. So I was surprised with that the
post sounded like it has been discontinued. Though it seems the service isn't
used that much in US.

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kurthr
"Samsung’s mobile payment platform is built upon a technology from a company
called LoopPay, which was acquired by Samsung in 2015."

I haven't seen actual statistics, but with the MST (magnetic secure
transaction?) capability, I'd guess that it was bigger than AndroidPay for
point-of-sale.

I don't think it's going away since it's based on a different technology and
is a separate app.

[https://thedroidguy.com/2018/01/heck-difference-samsung-
pay-...](https://thedroidguy.com/2018/01/heck-difference-samsung-pay-android-
pay-1059094)

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voycey
I use Android Pay currently for everything here in Australia, it is just
seamless! We have a fairly large uptake of contactless here by merchants so it
is a good fit! The only thing they need to work out now is contactless ATMs
working with it, then I can ditch my card for good!

~~~
terrantech
I use the CommBank app for touch payments and I'm constantly surprised by how
good uptake here in Oz is. I've barely touched cash or any other payment form
in the last year+, and mixed use going back way further than that. Even if
it's a coffee from a coffee cart at the markets, everyone here takes paypass.
I regularly go out now with nothing except my phone (and license in pocket
with phone if I'm driving), with no fear of getting stuck needing cash/card.
It's so nice not carrying a wallet.

I can also go to ATMs using their Cardless Cash option in the app, which
solves your other point.

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sparrish
Why do they keep saying 'faster way to pay'... It's always slower for me to
pull out the cell phone, unlock it, open Google Pay, choose the card,
click/swipe/acknowledge/etc then wait for it to process. I'd rather pull out
my wallet; toss out the cash.

~~~
no_carrier
You don't need to open the app or even unlock your phone. With Google/Android
Pay, you only need to have the screen switched on. It can be on the lock
screen and still work fine. You don't need to press a single confirmation on
the screen.

~~~
Godel_unicode
For anyone who sees this and is as confused as I was, this is apparently true
for small transactions. I've always had to unlock however, not sure what
"small" means here.

From the docs
([https://support.google.com/pay/answer/6289406?hl=en](https://support.google.com/pay/answer/6289406?hl=en)):

"To make most purchases, you need to unlock your phone. You won't need to
unlock your phone for certain small payments."

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genpfault
Like Android-Android or Google Play Services-Android?

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sumedh
Why is it so hard for Google to stick to one name, why keep on changing names
of different services. What are they trying to achieve?

~~~
fh973
This is an artifact of the Google promotion process: people are incentivized
to switch projects and launch new things. Hence not continuous improvement,
but relaunches.

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_o_
Sooo, on a top of spying on us over mobiles amd internet, they also want to
spy our financial transactions. I don't need any additional finance service, I
was listening once some really old guy saying "the one who uses credit card
doesn't value the money". And it was smart comment, with all the transaction
details shared with data brokers (including google, microsoft, apple,...)
maybe the "hard cash" is not a bad idea.

~~~
Mashimo
I see your point, but with cashless pay being so simple and effortless I doubt
cash will be around for a long time.

It's almost gone in some Nordic Countries. I don't have to bring my wallet.
Cash is a hassle for me.

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rahoulb
I see Android Pay signs and stickers and logos all over he place. That’s a lot
of branding to throw away and replace.

~~~
petepete
Don't worry, sending mixed messages about their services is part of Google's
grand strategy.

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mudil
Sorry, but I don't trust Google, and you shouldn't either. Google is a deeply
unethical company because it follows you from your work to the restaurant to
your bedroom, literally. Google knows everything about you: your sexual
orientation, your friends, your hobbies, your political orientation. And
Google does this invasion of privacy so they can show you an ad! Imagine any
other multinational doing this, and there would be riots on the streets! But
now Google also wants to know what you buy and when you buy it.

PS I consider Google to be the most unethical tech company in SV, for the
following reasons: blatant invasion of privacy and monopolization of internet.
No one is forced to use Facebook. On the other hand, Google reaches into every
website and into every process that happens on the internet.

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dylz
On the other hand, so is Facebook: their conversion pixel tracking, JS SDK
(like button, login, pervasive as hell) is arguably significantly worse than
Google Analytice.

