AT&T NFC Samsung Galaxy S II $199 October 2nd

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Get your AT&T NFC Samsung Galaxy S II for $199 which launches on October 2nd

Okay, it’s official AT&T has confirmed it will launch its version of the NFC Samsung Galaxy S II on October 2nd for the princely sum of $199 and a two-year-ball-and-chain contract. As we mentioned over the weekend, our sources are indicating that the NFC will be turned on, or at least it is very likely at this time that NFC will be turned on in the NFC endowed Samsung Galaxy S II hero phone.

It may not be surprising that the AT&T NFC Samsung Galaxy S II will launch on October 2nd considering that we have just heard that the iPhone 5 media event will happen on October 4th, but if the new iPhone doesn’t come with NFC it probably won’t effect the buying decision of people that would have bought an NFC Android device like the Samsung Galaxy S II anyway.

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Orange, France getting NFC Samsung Galaxy S II in October

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Orange, France getting NFC Samsung Galaxy S II in October which will be the first NFC Android device to be sold in Europe, will head to the UK soon

Orange has scored itself the first NFC Samsung Galaxy S II in Europe and intends to deploy the legendary hero NFC phone in France next month. The NFC version of the Samsung Galaxy S II has been a long time coming to European shores, especially after it was announced that the UK would get an NFC Samsung Galaxy S II in June. The model of the NFC Samsung Galaxy S II that will hit the Orange network is not the recently upgraded Samsung Galaxy S II, and aside from NFC, it features the original specifications of the phone launched in the UK.

It’s a pity that Orange elected to not give the European that beautiful 4.5-inch Hercules screen or upgrade the processor to the 1.5GHz processor, but at least NFC payments will be an option and so will the rest of the benefits that NFC brings to hero phones. The NFC Samsung Galaxy S II will be the fourth NFC capable phone for Orange’s Citizi customers. Citizi is the brand Orange is using to deploy NFC payments and services in France. According to Orange, 150,000 French consumers have already signed up for the Citizi NFC service, which provides passes for the local urban transport, payment in the partner shops over 1000 shops, loyalty, couponing and tag reading all using NFC.

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AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II, NFC will be turned on [Exclusive]

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AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II, NFC will be turned on [Exclusive]

AT&T has had a struggle on its hands over the last few weeks with regards to the NFC Samsung Galaxy S II. On one hand, AT&T could block the feature for the time being and not allow anyone to get any NFC goodness. This would allow them to maintain control over the NFC experience until Isis is ready to be deployed and it can produce greenbacks.

On the other hand, they know that it is a feature customers want. The risk AT&T faces with leaving NFC off is that if Big Red leaves NFC turned on in the Samsung Droid Prime, AT&T could lose customers. Decisions, decisions, what to do? Maniacal control, or giving consumers what they want without a monetization plan deployed? You can understand their dilemma. Well, lucky for us we have sources close to the matter that have let us know which way the wind is blowing inside Ma’Bell. From what we are hearing it is looking like the AT&T version of the Samsung Galaxy S II is very likely to have its NFC turned on at launch. Our sources for this rumor are solid, but we always caveat by saying this is a rumor at this point and seeing will be believing.

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AT&T throws up coming soon page for NFC Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-i777

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AT&T throws up coming soon page for NFC Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-i777

The NFC version of the Samsung Galaxy S II has been a long time coming to the United States and Canada. We heard a couple of weeks that AT&T would indeed be bring us an NFC version of the Samsung Galaxy S II this fall. Today we have spotted a coming soon page over at AT&T with the obligatory email capture form to let you know when there is more news. In our experience those forms let you know a week after we report the news here at NFC Rumors, but if you want to get on the AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II mailing list click here.

Three of the four big carriers are getting their own version of the Samsung Galaxy S II, but only T-Mobile and AT&T’s version are expected to have NFC-capable hardware, although it is not clear at this time whether the nascent technology will be turned on at the phone’s launch as it may encourage consumers to use Google Wallet instead of Isis’ solution that won’t be market ready until 2012. We also have no idea yet whether the NFC version of the Samsung Galaxy S II will have a secure element. If it doesn’t, it will need a SIM card to enable payments and to store NFC based transaction apps which again will mean that Isis is your only hope of utilizing the Samsung Galaxy S II for NFC payments.

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NFC payments hotting up in Canada as Rogers wants to start a Bank

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Rogers Communications wants to start a bank which could take NFC payments mainstream in Canada

The owner of Canada’s largest wireless telephone service provider has told the federal finance department that it will apply to become a financial institution called Rogers Bank, to be headquartered in Toronto.

“Would you like that deposited in your account or paid off your mobile bill?” could be a perfectly normal question for a Rogers customer to be asked if the communications company gets its way and is able to start  Rogers Bank. We reported a couple of weeks ago that Rogers is looking to deploy NFC payments on its network and could be collaborating with TD to do so. Since then we have seen that Rogers will get the NFC Samsung Galaxy S II on its network this fall, and now the company has come forward to confirm some of the banking rumors which have been rife.

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Canadians can Pre-order you NFC Samsung Galaxy S II LTE on Rogers now

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Canadians can Pre-order their brand new sparkly NFC Samsung Galaxy S II LTE on Rogers now today

We reported that Canada folk would get their hands on an NFC Samsung Galaxy S II courtesy of Rogers and today the mobile network operator came through with a pre-order form for the legendary phone with a touch of LTE 4G goodness. However, we should warn you that they want you to put some skin in the game if you are going to order this beast and they want $40 up front. We posted the details straight from the Rogers site after the break.

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AT&T does have an NFC Samsung Galaxy S II after all, Sprint does not

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AT&T does have an NFC Samsung Galaxy S II after all, Sprint does not

Just when the world seemed cold and harsh, the team at Engadget turned our frown upside down by discovering that the AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II does have NFC support after all. We had reported sometime ago that Samsung was expected to ship models of the NFC Samsung Galaxy S II with the near field communications chip turned off and it was then up to mobile network operators to decide if and when they wanted it activated and this appears to be the case for AT&T. It was also surprising when there was nary a mention of NFC in the press releases issued yesterday for the release of the United States’ Samsung Galaxy S II. Further compounded by the fact that we saw an NFC Samsung Galaxy S II come through the FCC some time ago and things just weren’t adding up.

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Canadian NFC Samsung Galaxy S II LTE heading to Rogers this fall

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NFC Samsung Galaxy S II rocking LTE heading to Rogers Canada this fall

Oh Canada, Oh Canada you get a Rogers NFC Samsung Galaxy S II (we don’t think that rhymes but you get the point). Okay, well the Americans didn’t fare well with today’s Samsung announcements. Our hearts sank as we learned that Samsung was dealing out no NFC on any US network for the long awaited Samsung Galaxy S II variants. That said, until the machines have a tear down we won’t know that for sure since Samsung is rumored to be fitting NFC in an inactive state and then switching it on later when carriers ask them to. Will America get an NFC Samsung Galaxy S II? The chances are looking bleak today. Back to Canada and the Rogers NFC Samsung Galaxy S II though.

Samsung has finally started releasing the by now legendary and possibly aging NFC Samsung Galaxy S II to North America. AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint had their announcements earlier and Canada’s Rogers appears to have trumped them all by getting the NFC Samsung’s Galaxy S II version for their network which is in line with the news lately that suggests Rogers is deploying NFC payments. Canadians won’t get their hands on their version of the Samsung Galaxy S II until later in the fall, but we can at least know what’s on its way now.

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Something big is coming according to Samsung

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Something big is coming, according to Samsung in its latest teaser videos

Samsung has released two teaser videos that suggest something big is coming and it will be announced at the IFA trade show in Berlin

What we are calling the season of smartphones is getting closer now. Apple, Google and a whole host of OEM manufacturers are getting ready to do battle for the holiday season. Multiple high-end phones are expected to be released between now and November with a glut expected at the end of September and early October. This fall is when Microsoft is also expected to enter the smartphone market proper, although they won’t have any NFC phones until next year. Now Samsung is releasing teaser videos suggesting that “something big is coming.” The videos suggest that whatever is coming, it will be announced on September 1st at the IFA trade show in Berlin, which is just three days after Samsung’s event to launch the Samsung Galaxy S II in the States. The promotional videos show people walking around with glowing objects that suggest that the 7-inch Galaxy Tab could be finally launching and yet there are also scenes where we see what appears to be a glowing phone. The other video simply shows people on a beach and really gives no clues as to what Samsung has in mind, apart from the fact it has an announcement and that the Berlin show is where it intends to share its secrets with the world.

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Samsung Epic Touch 4G aka Samsung Galaxy S II launches September on Sprint, NFC?

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Samsung Epic Touch 4G aka Samsung Galaxy S II launches September on Sprint, NFC?

New Samsung Epic Touch 4G name news, but nothing on NFC. Not to confuse you, but the Samsung Epic Touch 4G, which was rumored to be called the Samsung Galaxy Within, is in fact the Samsung Galaxy S II Sprint variant. Got that? Good. The by now legendary Samsung Galaxy S II phone is “today” rumored to be launched in September, just before the iPhone 4s, which could also be known as the iPhone 5, is due to hit the market. Are all the manufacturers and mobile network operators just messing with us? It is expected to take the awful naming convention of its predecessor and be crowned the Samsung Epic Touch 4G, a name by all accounts that seems to rip the sexiness out of the slate all together. Ah, but a name is not everything.

Does the Samsung Epic Touch 4G come laden with NFC?

We have had three names so far, nasty photographs with the Samsung Epic Touch 4G touting a QWERTY keyboard which turned out not to be the Samsung Galaxy S II at all, and a plethora of FCC filings. All that and we still have no idea if the Sprint version of the phone will come endowed with NFC. After all this time waiting for this phone to launch and supposing that it may not have NFC, we have to ask – is the Samsung Epic Touch 4G going to be the landslide that it would have been a few months ago? The Samsung Epic Touch 4G was first shown at CES early this year and blew everything else away, and whereas it is still a very capable phone, it may be aging before it even launches if it doesn’t come with an NFC chip inside.

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Identive Group sells 1 million NFC tags to a major smartphone manufacturer

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Identive Group sells 1 million NFC tags

The Identive Group has been selected to provide a major smartphone manufacturer with 1 million NFC tags over the course of 6 months

The Identive Group has announced that has secured a contract to supply 1 million NFC tags to a leading NFC phone manufacturer over the next six months. We reported on the Identive Group Marketplace, NFC stickers and NFC tags a couple of weeks ago highlighting how the company is focusing on educating developers about NFC and its many potential uses. Although the Identive Group produced and the NFC stickers for Google’s IO event earlier this year, this announcement represents the first major contract awarded to the company for a mass deployment of custom NFC tags by an NFC smartphone manufacturer. The NFC tags will be placed in the NFC smartphone box so that when a customer purchases a phone from the manufacturer in question,  they will be able to test the functionality of NFC out. It is not known at this point whether the NFC tag will be write protected or which NFC Forum tag type will be used.

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NFC Samsung Galaxy S II rumors roundup

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NFC Samsung Galaxy S II rumors roundup

You can tell the launch of the NFC Samsung Galaxy S II is getting close here in the US because the fervor is rising and the rumors are flying around quicker than ever. Let’s start with AT&T. We previously reported that AT&T had a version of the Samsung Galaxy S II that came with a QWERTY slider and it turns out that isn’t the Galaxy S II. That phone will be heading to AT&T, but it isn’t going to carry the Samsung Galaxy S II moniker. We have very few other details about the phone apart from the strange fact that the images show that it is running honeycomb, so we are not sure what that is all about. However, there is going to be an NFC Samsung Galaxy S II launching here in the States!

NFC Samsung Galaxy S II on AT&T

After the biggest questions in the universe, such as “Why?” and, is the universe infinite? One of the biggest questions faced by human kind has been will there be an NFC Samsung Galaxy S II launching outside of Korea? And we have an answer to that question now, which is a resounding yes.

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Galaxy S II spotted, and is heading to Sprint as the Galaxy S Within, but is it the NFC i9101?

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Galaxy S II spotted and is heading to Sprint as the Galaxy S Within, but is it the NFC i9101?

The CDMA Samsung Galaxy S Within i9101, or as we more commonly know it, Samsung Galaxy S II, has been spotted all dressed up and ready to roll with Sprint branding. The Galaxy S II has certainly taken its sweet time to get here after launching in Korea ages ago and in the UK in June. The rumor has indicated that the smartphone will be available on the “Now Network” on July 24th, from an uncertain Sprint employee. So, your oh so long wait could be over and you may well be walking around with the Galaxy S Within your pocket. Another piece of related news is that the Samsung Galaxy S Within is said to ship with Android 2.3.4, so it would presumably support Google Talk video chat straight out of the gate. From the leaked photographs, we see that the camera housing has changed shape from a rectangular opening to an oval one.We also see a large Sprint logo adorning the back of the case, but what we don’t see is the FCC certification. If the phone is indeed due to launch on the 24th of this month, we would expect to see it come through the FCC soon.

Is the Galaxy S Within, the i9101 NFC phone?

There has been a lot of speculation as to whether the U.S. launch of the Galaxy S Within is in fact the Galaxy S II GT-i9101 NFC smartphone. Some media outlets are swearing that it is the NFC variant of the by now legendary superphone but there has been no evidence surface to confirm this. Other rumors are suggesting that the Samsung Galaxy S II GT-i9101 is due to be released in the UK by the end of this month, which if true, does add credence to the possibility that the Sprint Galaxy S Within could well be the i9101.

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Samsung Galaxy S II launch imminent in Canada on Bell, SaskTel & Virgin Mobile

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Samsung Galaxy S II launch imminent in Canada on Bell, SaskTel & Virgin Mobile

Yes, you saw it correctly, the Samsung Galaxy S II superphone has release dates in Canada and they aren’t far off, which leads us to wonder. Don’t you love those days when you walk outside, smell the clean air and revel in the fact that the crime rate is minuscule, or that healthcare is free and good? Or, perhaps do you prefer the days when the Samsung Galaxy S II is going to be launched imminently and you know the Yanks won’t even get a look in? You know, the days when you know it’s good to be Canadian. We wish we could feel that, but we are in the States and can only look north green with envy, barricade ourselves in our homes with guns protecting our $700 bottle of pills. Only the bloody British can laugh at us all.

Samsung Galaxy S II Launching for as little as $79.99 in Canada

Canada may be America’s hat, but that appears to be only because that is where the brains are. We want to know how the Canadians have wrangled this year’s most anticipated phone before America even has credible rumors of a release and then have managed to get it for $80. Yup, SaskTel will let you walk away with a Samsung Galaxy S II for $79.99 and won’t even call the police. Well, as long you sign a 3 year contract that is. No official launch date as yet, just that the phone will be available in the coming weeks.

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