Help transfering files via nfc

[donec]

Has anyone had any luck transferring files via NFC?

I have a Nexus 4 and my wife has a Sony Xperia Acro S. Both say they work with NFC and they see each other when held close but the files never get transferred. Any ideas or any more info needed?

 

[tmicrd68]

Does your wife's phone have jelly bean yet? I've read that only jelly bean can transfer pictures NFC. Anyway the only time I tried to transfer a picture NFC it took a lot of time. That Samsung s3 commercial was kind of a joke because it showed pictures and videos being transferred via NFC (presumably) very quickly. It seemed to me to be just as slow as a Bluetooth transfer when I did it.

 

[jirok]

thats because it just uses nfc to automatically start and pair the two devices via bluetooth with files i think

 

[donec]

Does your wife's phone have jelly bean yet? I've read that only jelly bean can transfer pictures NFC. Anyway the only time I tried to transfer a picture NFC it took a lot of time. That Samsung s3 commercial was kind of a joke because it showed pictures and videos being transferred via NFC (presumably) very quickly. It seemed to me to be just as slow as a Bluetooth transfer when I did it.

No her phone is ICS.

thats because it just uses nfc to automatically start and pair the two devices via bluetooth with files i think

NFC does not use bluetooth or WiFi it is it's on frequency and pairs automatically when in range.

Her manual says the picture should be shown on my home screen and it should be saved to the receiving phone but nothing about where it is saved. Anyone have any ideas about where it may be saved?

Ok! I have been messing with it as I was making this post and I learned that if the 2 phones do not have matching apps it will send you to GP to get the app but that does not seem to help with getting the picture or the music to actually transfer even having the proper app and our own photos and music didn't work so it is not DRM related. However if we try a website from chrome it works and Youtube worked but that is all so far.

Still have not had anything saved so I don't know where it would be saved.

I was thinking that maybe the standards for the 2 devices were not compatible like some nfc tags are not compatible but I feel it can not be incompatible devices since they do work for websites and youtubes.

If you get any other results please let us know.

 

[Chaco]

donec.... i think jrock is right

when i transfered a couple files between my GNex and N4 i did it via NFC BEAM.... after starting it, i noticed that both phones turned Bluetooth on and transfered the files that way... then it turned bluetooth off... it saved them to a folder called beam

theres an app called wifi direct, that will transfer the files via the WiFi direct protocol and be much faster...

 

[mjschmidt]

donec.... i think jrock is right

when i transfered a couple files between my GNex and N4 i did it via NFC BEAM.... after starting it, i noticed that both phones turned Bluetooth on and transfered the files that way... then it turned bluetooth off... it saved them to a folder called beam

theres an app called wifi direct, that will transfer the files via the WiFi direct protocol and be much faster...

Just got my N4 last Friday, and was testing this with my son who also has an N4. I noticed also that BT was turned on each time I transferred a photo to him.

That said, correlation is not causation I suppose, until/unless we find confirmation.

 

[donec]

Upon further investigation it seems as though Google may be using Bluetooth when it transfers larger files as a function of Android Beam.

However! It should be noted that the function of NFC to transfer data does not include Bluetooth. NFC operates at 13.56 megahertz while Bluetooth operates at 2.45 gigahertz. That means that when Google uses Android Beam to transfer larger files it is not transfering them via NFC but seems to be using NFC to contact another device and then set up a temporary bluetooth pairing as a function of Android Beam in order to transfer the file via Bluetooth and not using NFC for the actual transfer.

I believe that when you share something like a website from one device to another then the transfer is actually done via NFC and no Bluetooth is used. I don't, at present, have 2 devices to test again but my memory says when I did try a website I had Bluetooth turned off and it worked.

 

[JunBringer]

From my experience NFC can only send links (play store, youtube, websites etc) and for anything else it uses either bluetooth or in the case of two Galaxy devices it'll use Wifi Direct.

 

[chrlswltrs]

Does your wife's phone have jelly bean yet? I've read that only jelly bean can transfer pictures NFC. Anyway the only time I tried to transfer a picture NFC it took a lot of time. That Samsung s3 commercial was kind of a joke because it showed pictures and videos being transferred via NFC (presumably) very quickly. It seemed to me to be just as slow as a Bluetooth transfer when I did it.

I didn't pay attention to Bluetooth, but N4 to N4 pictures transferred just about as quickly as the simulated transfer on the S3 commercial.

 

[aurora40]

I have a GNex and a friend has an N4. Transferring files is pretty annoying using the Android Beam. As mentioned, it goes over bluetooth, which is slow (they don't support bluetooth high speed). And if it's just a random file, not an image or movie, many apps don't send the file properly. It's app-dependent, and some apps when you touch phones will just send a play store link to that app (maybe we both need the same file manager stuff, I dunno).

It's generally frustrating when we do it, though eventually we get it all to work. It's not as seamless as the commercials portray, that's for sure.

 

[hstroph]

... As mentioned, it goes over bluetooth, which is slow (they don't support bluetooth high speed). ...

I'm curious: how far away are the devices after initial contact? NFC means "Near Field" for a reason, and I'm wondering if Bluetooth is a fallback when the NFC distance becomes too great?

 

[andrews317]

NFC file tranfer just saves you the pairing process of bluetooth transfers (make device visible, search device, set code, match code, send file to paired device). The rest is the same.

 

[jirok]

in the case of my girlfriends gs3 i can send her pictures but she cant send me pictures when she does it just opens the appstore