Category: Android Pay

Android Pay’s continued growth and support by the banking industry marches on with an additional 55 new banks adding support for the service.  While the majority of the new banks are Credit Unions and small in size, it is good to see them added for those who do not have a major US bank in their area.  Equally, the list is no where near complete but it feels like we are close to the point where there are more banks than physical locations that have touch-to-pay terminals.

For those readers in the UK, there is good news for you this morning.  In a few months, when exactly isn’t known, you will be able to use your NFC compatible Android phone to use Android Pay.  The announcement came on the Official Android Blog in the UK and when it does roll out, there are a wide range of retailers that you will be able to tap-and-pay at across the country and most of the major banks in the UK will be supporting it as well.

Google has started rolling out an update to Android Pay that should hit your device in the next day or two.  The update, version 1.2 for those keeping score at home, is a minor update but it does have one significant feature that you will want to have available to you.  If you recall, back in December I told you about apps you may have on your phone being able to leverage Android Pay for payments.  That list of apps was pretty long and included apps like Lyft, OpenTable and ParkMe Parking.  The update today to Android Pay is important because now you will get receipts in the app for those in-app purchases.

Essentially the receipts act like the do if you use Android Pay at a physical store.  When you make a purchase using it within an app, a receipt for that transaction is associated with the credit or debit card that you used to pay for it.  The idea of course is you have one place to go to see a history of all your transactions.  There is nothing you as a user need to do other than update to this latest version to enable this feature.  It is a back end change along with the app.

Android Pay – Free – Download Now

Among Apple, Android and Samsung, the race to be the contactless payment platform continues to heat up and the latest update involving Android Pay will just heat things up further.  The Android team announced yesterday that you are now able to use Android Pay for purchases within apps such as Lyft, Instacart, OpenTable and more.  Now you can configure these apps to accept your payment without having to enter in credit card numbers or hand your card over to someone.

No more pulling out your credit card while on-the-go. No more errors thanks to clumsy thumbs. Just tap the Android Pay button in the app, confirm your information, and you’re done! And just like your purchases in stores, Android Pay never shares your card details with merchants.

The ability to pay for products and services within other apps is something that Apple Pay has been able to do for some time so this update to Android Pay certainly brings it on par with iOS. Also keep in mind that this new in-app purchasing only works in the US right now.

To use this feature, you must have Android Pay configured on your Android device prior to trying to use it with another Pay enabled app.  Android Pay is a free app but it does require that your phone have NFC capability so you can make contactless payments in retailers.

If you have been looking at getting a Nexus 6, head over to NewEgg today.  Right now they have the 32GB version of the device in stock for only $288.99.  That is a 56% savings off the original price of the Google flagship device from last year.  The version that the online retailer is offering is in white and there is no other color option and to top it off you will get free standard shipping on your order.

To give everyone a reminder, the Nexus 6 is powered by the Snapdragon 805 processor and coupled with 3GB of RAM and has 32GB of storage (it is not expandable with an SD card).  The display is a 5.96″ 1440 x 1960 display with about 493 PPI.  When you order the unit from NewEgg it will come with Android Lollipop as that was the original build of this device but you can upgrade it to Android Marshmallow and gain all the benefits of that great version of Android.

Nexus 6 32GB in White – SALE $288.99 – NewEgg

While much of the tap-and-pay focus in Android has been on Android Pay, that doesn’t mean that Google has given up on Google Wallet.  While the latter app has morphed into more of a send a payment to a friend app, Google continues to work on it and add new features.  The latest update that was released yesterday, version 11.0-R234-v13 for those keeping score at home, gives you the ability to add multiple bank accounts to the app.  It is a nice addition that comes with other improvements to the app.

Google Wallet for Android – Free – Download Now