What's it like to use the Galaxy S3 Touch to send files

[GimmeSlack12]

So the Galaxy S3 commercials show people touching phones together to send stuff to each other. They send movies mainly. Now... look I get that that's a neat feature, but I'm very skeptical that it is particularly fast (much rather as easy as bumping phones).

How's it work in real life? Really easy? Sort of easy? Total pain? Useless?

 

[siiip5]

So the Galaxy S3 commercials show people touching phones together to send stuff to each other. They send movies mainly. Now... look I get that that's a neat feature, but I'm very skeptical that it is particularly fast (much rather as easy as bumping phones).

How's it work in real life? Really easy? Sort of easy? Total pain? Useless?

No one is going to use NFC to transfer large files. To slow for that. But small personal vids or pics really is simple. That said sharing this way is not what I would call common.

 

[Esoom]

So the Galaxy S3 commercials show people touching phones together to send stuff to each other. They send movies mainly. Now... look I get that that's a neat feature, but I'm very skeptical that it is particularly fast (much rather as easy as bumping phones).

How's it work in real life? Really easy? Sort of easy? Total pain? Useless?

It looks really simple in the ads, I must be sort of ignorant because I can't get it to work at all, gave up after about half an hour with my S3 and a Galaxy nexus I gave my GF.

Best I can tell is you have to select the photo, set it up to be shared, then touch another phone that has the feature turned on and accept the file. But like i said, I can't get it to work. Worst part was realizing I had a picture of my c*ck in my photo album while I was browsing my phone at work that I hadn't deleted.

 

[mib1800]

^^did you turn on the NFC in Settings?

 

[blackhand1001]

No one is going to use NFC to transfer large files. To slow for that. But small personal vids or pics really is simple. That said sharing this way is not what I would call common.

It doesnt actually use the nfc to transfer the file. It sets up an automatic bluetooth connection between two devices and if both devices support wifi direct it uses that instead which is faster. Once you do the initial tap to beam process the devices don;t have to be next to each other anymore. Just stay within 20 yards until the transfer completes.

 

[nickchallis92]

You're thinking of S-Beam which is a Samsung exclusive feature (works between the S3, Note II and maybe the S3 mini?). Makes a connection using NFC then uses wifi direct to send large files (very quickly).

You're not getting that option with the Galaxy Nexus because it doesnt support S-Beam but does support the android-native 'android beam' which can be used to send basic stuff like contact cards etc

 

[GimmeSlack12]

Worst part was realizing I had a picture of my c*ck in my photo album while I was browsing my phone at work that I hadn't deleted.

Gotta be careful, there's always a peener out there ready to ruin your day.

Anyway, the consensus seems that it isn't as simple as the commercials make it seem. Which is what I expected. Much rather that people dont use this feature very much.

I guess apple should show the Bump app in action. That was one of e very first big apps out there.

 

[Timzer]

It's extremely easy. You turn on S Beam in your settings. Then you go to the file your transferring, touch phones and it's done via WiDi. Very fast. It doesn't get easier than that.

 

[blackhand1001]

You're thinking of S-Beam which is a Samsung exclusive feature (works between the S3, Note II and maybe the S3 mini?). Makes a connection using NFC then uses wifi direct to send large files (very quickly).

You're not getting that option with the Galaxy Nexus because it doesnt support S-Beam but does support the android-native 'android beam' which can be used to send basic stuff like contact cards etc

The galaxy nexus supports beaming of photos and files now. It was added in the jellybean update. It generally uses bluetooth to do so.

 

[Esoom]

I listen to the engadget mobile podcast regularly, and Mirriam commented a couple of shows ago about how stupidly complex and obtuse some of Samsung's features are, and how she and another well known tech blogger were trying to use the features in the Note 2 and how they couldn't figure out most of them and how frustrating it was.

 

[3bs]

I listen to the engadget mobile podcast regularly, and Mirriam commented a couple of shows ago about how stupidly complex and obtuse some of Samsung's features are, and how she and another well known tech blogger were trying to use the features in the Note 2 and how they couldn't figure out most of them and how frustrating it was.

I guess they've never heard of youtube

 

[Eddie Bombay]

S beamed some pics on my buds Nexus 7 just fine. Was easy

 

[GimmeSlack12]

Ok, so it seems that S-Beaming things isn't so tough. Fun.

They should get that name out there more though, I have never heard of "S Beam" before.

 

[kdarling]

I mainly use the NFC touch transfer when my son-in-law comes to visit. (He loves technology.) We use to transfer items when we're sitting next to each other on the couch watching TV and using our phones.

You hold your devices back-to-back or close together (depending on phone or tablet) with the receiver on its homepage and the sender on the item you wish to transfer. A picture of what will transfer pops up on the sender and you click to confirm. Depending on what's being transferred, the receiving device may show a receive confirmation that they tap.

Examples of transfers:

• Looking at a web page -> tap -> other phone opens browser to that page
• Looking at a map -> tap -> other phone is looking at the same location
• Navigation directions -> tap -> other phone now has same directions
• Watching a YouTube video -> tap -> video opens on other device
• Looking at photo(s) -> tap -> transfers photo(s) to other device
• Looking at a contact -> tap -> other phone gets copy of contact
• Using an app -> tap -> other phone opens to that app in the Market
• Viewing a contact-> tap -> transfers contact to other device

It's pretty handy when you're next to someone. You don't even need to know their name, so it's an anonymous way to transfer stuff. E.g. someone stops you for directions, you could bring them up on your phone and tap to transfer. No phone number or email address is necessary.

That's for Android. I haven't tried an NFC Blackberry yet. It's up to each manufacturer as to what they can do. Most phones with NFC should at least accept basic file transfers.

--

Another cool feature that Samsung has is called "All Share". Everyone in a group can enable it on their camera, and all devices share photos (via WiFi) that are taken while the feature is turned on. Pretty cool for parties.