News - NFC ring can unlock your phone, share and transfer information

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With an NFC door lock this ring will also give you keyless access to your house.

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Read more.

This project was discussed on the latest "All About Android" podcast (http://twit.tv/show/all-about-android/119 at around 20m 40 secs in). Not sure whether I want to pony up some money for this or not - could this become geek chic?

Shame that NFC isn't more widespread - e.g. of the four phones in this house there's only one that is NFC-enabled. And of course, at the moment the vast swathe of iPhone users can't use this ring - at least without some kind of extra NFC sensor being added.

" NFC ring can unlock your phone, share and transfer information" so can my non NFC enabled thumbs :P

my low tech non nfc keys and hands can also unlock doors with fairly minimal delay too.

there is such a thing as too much technology.

This is another one of those things where someone sees a technology and tries to create a problem that we apparently have to be solved by it.

Kinda like the idea for unlocking my Nexus 4, I've always thought that a 4 digit pin wasn't enough (too easily shoulder surfed) so I use 6 and it just gets a little tiresome when you're sleepy, drunk, running etc. Would be nice if it just "knew" my hand somehow... a fingerprint reader on the back of phones would be awesome, but probably impractical.

The only problem I foresee if they became too prevalent is that thieves would have to demand your ring too rather than just grab the phone and run, which might lead to more violent muggings... probably won't ever get THAT popular though!

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Originally Posted by kingpotnoodle

The only problem I foresee if they became too prevalent is that thieves would have to demand your ring too rather than just grab the phone and run, which might lead to more violent muggings... probably won't ever get THAT popular though!

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They don't exactly demand your pin while they mug you currently so I doubt they will go for the ring :P

Keyless access to my house via NFC?

NFC is right ..... No f...., f..... erm, Flaming Chance. None whatever.

As for my phone, as pointed out above, non-NFC thumbs manage the job just fine. I thought I was lazy, but even I can unlock my phone without needing this. £25 for one? At 25p I wouldn't bother.

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Originally Posted by Saracen

Keyless access to my house via NFC?

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Unless there is a power cut or your battery is flat in which case, break in/wait? So a manual overide is needed.... oh wait thats a key......& a lock.........

My only issue with it is I don't like wearing rings :P

From a usage side I won't mind my phone, house, bike lock, car etc unlocking without any input from me long as it was proved secure and that it had a key redundancy... means I could leave a spare key(s) in the bottom of my bag/at work/with mate/in car and only have to dig them out and use them in emergency.

The cost doesn't really warrant the time saving or convenience. glad its showing success though on kick starter

Looks pretty slick, I've pledged for a normal size ring :)
Only drawback for me is I probably won't be able to wear it at work (or if I can, is it resilient against alcohol hand gel/frequent hand washing?) but I think it has plenty of potential.

And yes, while I can obviously unlock my phone with fingers, there is the inherent security issue with people able to see the pin when I type it (many times a day) so in reality this is likely to be just as secure as typing. Yes, it can get nicked - in which case, as they say, you can reset the NFC association on your phone (or your front door). The only way in which this would be better is if the key were encrypted, to remove any chance of someone being able to clone it without your knowledge. And if you're using it solely for access to things then you're not going to be in a position where you might accidentally expose any personal data to anyone else, firstly because a) there'll be no personal data on it (unless you count an access code as personal data) and b) you won't be bringing it into contact with anything that can read it.

Not that we shouldn't take it seriously, but I think privacy concerns are slightly overstated in this context :)

I'm not sure i'd feel great relying on it for my whole house but for a phone... i'd have one.

Thing is with the locks and passcodes on your phone they're often all to easy to get if someone is watching you without you noticing. And i don't mean stupidly just standing behind you duh.
£25 does sound a little steep but then how much do people pay for the premium of say apple products?

As a nice way for unlocking certain pass codes I think it has potential. It's kinda like those tech lovers dreams of having fingerprint and eye scanners. Hell, they have fingerprint scanners already in laptops..

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Originally Posted by Saracen

Keyless access to my house via NFC?
NFC is right ..... No f...., f..... erm, Flaming Chance. None whatever.
As for my phone, as pointed out above, non-NFC thumbs manage the job just fine. I thought I was lazy, but even I can unlock my phone without needing this. £25 for one? At 25p I wouldn't bother.

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Anyone who relies on NFC to keep their front door secure is, in my book, a moron of the first order.

That said, the company behind this ring seem to be at pains to state that phone unlock etc are only the initial uses that they've thought of, and since the SDK is open source they're hoping that others will come along and take it further. For example, I've seen someone suggest that the NFC ring could be used - along with a password - to provide two-factor authentication on PC's. Unlike the current USB keyfobs, the ring is easier to leave on all the time, so there's no need to have to remember to plug anything in - the proximity of your hands to the keyboard provide that first factor automatically.

To me the phone unlock thing is nice, but I can see quite a few of the tech-heads liking the ability to put a "business card" on the public part of the ring and then finger-bumping the ring on someone else's phone to exchange cards.

And if the thing is £25 then that's not excessive - heck Apple charge only £10 less for a simple USB->Lightning cable ffs. :o (at least according to the UK Apple store). And certainly more cost effective than the £100+ smart watches that others seem to be drooling over.

£25 seems a bit steep for what is essentially a metal cylinder and a pair of RFID tags.

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Originally Posted by aramil

Unless there is a power cut or your battery is flat in which case, break in/wait? So a manual override is needed.... oh wait thats a key......& a lock.........

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NFC is quite low power, a modest backup battery would handle that. Or instead of a locksmith you need an electrician with a battery...

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Originally Posted by kingpotnoodle

NFC is quite low power, a modest backup battery would handle that. Or instead of a locksmith you need an electrician with a battery...

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I have seen people stood next to the door of their car, pushing the unlock button repeatedly because the battery was near as dead complaining they cannot unlock their car..... Hello there is a keyhole right in front of you.......

Do not underestimate the laziness/stupidity of some people. :D