Pay by Phone

The message on the Samsung Pay screen reads, “Hold the device near an NFC-enabled terminal or a credit card magnetic swipe terminal.”
The message on the Samsung Pay screen reads, “Hold the device near an NFC-enabled terminal or a credit card magnetic swipe terminal.”

 

Samsung Card began a test run of its mobile payment service Samsung Pay on July 15 by recruiting 1,000 people to use the service.

Unfortunately, a Samsung Card is the only credit card that can be registered during the test, and the service is currently unavailable in Starbucks stores or gas stations. Unlike credit cards, mobile payment services cannot be used if the mobile phone loses its Internet connection, so a backup credit card will be necessary for emergency use, even after Samsung Pay is commercialized. It is also regrettable that Samsung Pay is only available on the Galaxy S6 line of phones.

A Galaxy S6 Edge was used to experience the mobile payment service. An app called “PAY” was installed on the home screen. To use the service after it is commercialized, it will be necessary to download the app via the Google Play Store. However, the app is not available while the service is still being tested.

It was easy to register a credit card. After touching “PAY” and pressing a button to register a credit card, a camera window opened. The credit card was automatically recognized when the camera window focused on the card. However, smartphone owners are required to use their own Samsung Card. It is impossible to register another person's card with the app. It is possible, however, to upload up to 10 credit or check cards.

Even when the screen is off, Samsung Pay can be used by swiping the screen from the home button to make a credit card appear, part of the “Simple Pay” feature. It is unnecessary to click an app icon or wake up the phone. In order to make the credit card appear on the screen, a fingerprint scan or a password is required. If several credit cards are registered, users can select one by swiping through them on the screen.

After selecting a card, a message saying “Hold the device near a NFC-enabled terminal or a credit card magnetic swipe terminal” pops up. A user then has 20 seconds to follow the directions. The limited time in which to use the payment feature seems to be a little inconvenient, but it seems to be effective to prevent wrongful payments. People do not have to worry about the leakage of credit card numbers, since a one-time password is used instead of the credit card number. It is also easy to cancel payments; simply select “payment cancellation” and touch the back of the smartphone to the credit card terminal again.

It is possible to use both NFC-enabled terminals or credit card magnetic swipe terminals. However, during testing it was found that coffee shops or drug stores rarely use NFC-enabled terminals. Most of them used magnetic strip payment terminals.

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