I'm 42 and live in the US. I have Google Pay/Wallet all wired up, and I even have Garmin Pay on my smartwatch. It all works just fine but most of the time I still just take out my credit card and tap it. It objectively takes less time than unlocking my phone or watch, and it works 100% of the time. I can't stop carrying the cards anyway because a lot of places still don't accept tap/EV (including Walmart and Lowes).
I don’t know how Google Pay works but when the payment terminal is ready for payment and you put your iPhone near it, it automatically turns on and waits for you confirm the payment.
A lot of people have multiple credit cards. Mobile payment means you can leave those at home. Credit card taps also don’t work 100% of the time. I’m sure everyone has had times when there’s something wrong with the terminal and you give it a second shot by inserting the card.
I had my bus pass on my phone. The reader always took two tries, multiple unlocks and timeouts, and was just annoying. I would always try to have my phone unlocked and ready while the bus was coming up but then it would time out. Struggling with my phone in a time sensitive situation was not my cup of tea and ended up going physical card as well.
Good point. I find this is a problem when I'm somewhere new and I'm not used to their point-of-sale device. But (like many people I assume) I make many of my purchases at the same few spots (grocery store etc) and I know where to tap for those.
I drove to the grocery store yesterday and realized that I forgot my wallet. I decided to gamble that Tap-to-Pay was available and would work. I was able to complete my purchase but not before playing the where to tap game.
I think my Android phone's NFC coil is smack in the middle, which requires moving my hand from a cupping to clawing hold while keeping the screen on and not touching it. Then slowly rubbing it around the POS terminal starting first with the Tap-to-Pay logo until the screen on my phone indicates it's talking.
Android manufacturers really need to work on the placement of NFC coils. Since cameras are on the top right corner of the phone, they should place the coils in the top left. I know Apple's coil is near the top but I've never used an iPhone for T2P so I'm not sure how much that improves the experience. Knowing Apple it's better, I can't imagine they could find a way to make it worse.
