If you were to TAP some one (on the shoulder), you would touch them with the tips of your fingers, right? You wouldn't place your palm on their shoulder and call that a TAP. As usual, the geniuses that came up with "Tap & Pay" got the terminology all wrong. To me, to TAP my phone to a )))) terminal means I hold my phone and tap the top end of the phone on the terminal. It doesn't work. After many frustrating attempts to get Google Wallet to make a payment, with intermittent success, mostly getting a message on my phone that the payment could not be verified, I took the time to watch several videos on how to "Tap & Pay", and in all cases, the phone was centered and "Placed" on the terminal, and the transaction went through. Then I read that the NFC is usually less than 4 cm (1.5 in). No wonder it didn't work. The center of my phone was easily 2 inches away from the terminal when I tapped the top end of the phone to the )))) symbol.
This is as frustrating for us non-techies as setting up WiFi and asking for the password. What password? Where's the password? It's on the back of the router. Where's that? I don't see a password? It's the WEP Key. Well, why the hell did you ask for a password, why didn't you ask for the WEP Key?
It's simple things like incorrect terminology that make technology so frustrating for the non-techies among us.
UPDATE: With a heavy heart, I have to admit, I jumped to a conclusion before testing it out. Neither Google Wallet nor Softcard worked reliably today, "placing" the phone on the terminal, removing the plastic case (as suggested by a cashier), or sliding the phone end to end across the )))) terminal. After a fashion, purchases went through with both Wallet and Softcard, but in both cases, the phone displayed a "purchase not verified, check with cashier" message. That demanded a trip to the AT&T store, where the rep checked the SIM card and said that I had the wrong SIM card in the phone, and he replaced it. So I will have to wait another day to decide who to point the finger at for the troubles with Wallet and Softcard.
This is as frustrating for us non-techies as setting up WiFi and asking for the password. What password? Where's the password? It's on the back of the router. Where's that? I don't see a password? It's the WEP Key. Well, why the hell did you ask for a password, why didn't you ask for the WEP Key?
It's simple things like incorrect terminology that make technology so frustrating for the non-techies among us.
UPDATE: With a heavy heart, I have to admit, I jumped to a conclusion before testing it out. Neither Google Wallet nor Softcard worked reliably today, "placing" the phone on the terminal, removing the plastic case (as suggested by a cashier), or sliding the phone end to end across the )))) terminal. After a fashion, purchases went through with both Wallet and Softcard, but in both cases, the phone displayed a "purchase not verified, check with cashier" message. That demanded a trip to the AT&T store, where the rep checked the SIM card and said that I had the wrong SIM card in the phone, and he replaced it. So I will have to wait another day to decide who to point the finger at for the troubles with Wallet and Softcard.
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