Since I own two Android smartphones with NFC chips — the Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy Note 2 — I’m interested to see what else I can do with NFC. So I bought five NFC stickers and set out to learn. Turns out these little tags are already coming in handy: I’m using them to change my phone settings when I leave home and when I return.

Unfortunately, the NFC tags and software I started to use seem limited to Samsung phones and there appear to various tag standards. I’ve already found a new free Android app and other tags for a more universal solution. NFC Task Launcher, for example, works on the Nexus 4 smartphone built by LG. The developer also sells NFC tags in several different shapes, sizes and even for both indoor and outdoor use. And the supporting application offers more control options as well.

For now, I’m just experimenting but I’m thinking that with several NFC tags around the house, I can eventually tie into my home automation system and much more with this low-cost wireless tech.

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You can see how easy it is to use the card in my brief video: Just tap the card to any phone that has an NFC radio. The card will pass data to the phone and even tell the phone what to do with it. In my case, it passes a link to my GigaOm Pro profile and tells the phone to open a browser to that web page.

The card could just have easily added me as a contact to the phone. In fact, the NFC tag can be re-programmed as needed in case you want to change the data on it. I’m not one to carry business cards around all that much, but I could certainly see myself carrying this one from Moo, particularly as more phones come with NFC capabilities.

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This news shows that not even the credit card companies have figured out yet which mobile payment standard will eventually be adopted. Like other major card providers such as MasterCard and Visa, Barclaycard is supporting both Google Wallet and Isis, which is a payment system created by Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile. Barclaycard announced Isis support this past February, alongside Chase and Capitol One.

Of course, neither wireless payments system, which use near-field communications chips, is a guaranteed winner. The lack of an NFC chip in Apple’s new iPhone 5 suggests that mainstream consumers may opt for app-specific payments — such as that found in the Starbucks app — or through Apple’s new Passport app in iOS 6, which currently supports digital coupons and loyalty cards.

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As shown at CES, the big attraction of the Android device is its 12-megapixel rear camera. Sony’s fast capture and quick launch features allow a user to activate the camera from standby and snap a first shot in 1.5 seconds. It also has lag times of less than a second between shots. In video mode, the rear camera captures 1080p video, while the front camera shoots in 720p. The phone will link directly to a TV through an HDMI port and hooking it up to HD monitor will automatically launch media management software, which will allow the device to be controlled via a Sony Bravia TV’s remote control.

Another interesting feature on the device is its near field communications (NFC) chip coupled with Sony’s SmartTag technology, which allows a subscriber to instantly customize the phone for specific locations. The Ion ships with a few tags, which can be programmed to configure the phone’s settings and apps when tapped. For instance, tapping a SmartTag in your car could immediately activate Bluetooth pairing (which is one of the biggest complaints about current connected car technologies) and turn on the phone’s GPS.

Some of the actual smartphone aspects of the Ion leave a bit to be desired. At this late date releasing a new mid-tier Android device without Ice Cream Sandwich may seem ridiculous, but the Ion is shipping with Gingerbread (Android 2.3) nonetheless. The Ion sports a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor and 16 GB of internal memory (with a micro slot for expansion). The 4.6-inch LCD display will render 720p video and Sony boasts that it is powered by the same Bravia engine used in its TVs.

The Ion can support Sony’s Music Unlimited and Video Unlimited, though the former isn’t exclusive to Sony devices. Sony is offering up a free 30-day subscription to Music Unlimited for Ion buyers, but no other special considerations apply. Ion owners must download the apps from Google Play and any song downloads or streaming, as well as movie purchases, count against their data plans. Finally Sony has certified the device for its PlayStation mobile games.

The Ion is Sony’s first U.S. device since its divorce from Ericsson, which left Sony with the suffering handset business. The device isn’t exactly Sony’s flagship phone, but the imaging and NFC features – as well as its low price – might make it attractive to U.S. audience. The inclusion of LTE is also key, showing Sony is specifically optimizing its devices for U.S. networks even though LTE is still in the minority in the rest of the world.

Here’s the AT&T promotion video for the Ion:

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That’s exactly the idea behind Printechnologic’s Touchcode; the German company has developed an electronic print product with interactivity. Printed material using Touchcode technology looks no different than a standard print product, is recyclable and can be used on a range of products, such as tickets, food items, business cards, or nearly anything that you can put ink on. A customizable electronic code embedded in the print process interacts with a phone’s capacitive screen, much like your fingers do, giving the handset a web address or file download, for example. Here’s how the company describes it:

“Touchcode is an invisible electronic code printed on paper, cardboard, film or labels. Just put the product on the display of your smartphone/tablet/multitouch device to read the data – no matter if you’d like to confirm the authenticity of your brand product or make your card game come to life. With Touchcode, you add interactivity to just about any product.”

It’s a simply elegant solution and takes advantage of the growing number of touchscreen devices in the mobile market. DisplaySearch estimates that 2011 saw 566 million touch screen shipments for mobile phones, with rapid expansion going forward. Here’s an interactive video demo showing how Touchcode works and explaining the many possibilities for the product:

I think Touchcode is ingenious because it directly bridges the physical and digital worlds with a medium that’s been used for thousands of years: Ink. The products looks no different than any printed medium today. And they gain the extra characteristic of working with a capacitive touch screen.

Imagine tapping a printed card in Starbucks to your handset for a direct download of the tune currently playing. Maybe a printed concert ticket can open up a web page with the artist’s bio or an advance listen to an upcoming but unpublished song. Or instead of manually logging your food with a barcode, the food packaging itself contains a link to the nutritional values and can log the entry for you while also providing relevant recipes.

The idea behind these interactive codes has really never been the problem in adoption. Instead, the implementations haven’t been quite as universal as they need to be. Near-field communications, or NFC, tags could help, but they require both the tag and a phone with an NFC reader. Barcodes are probably the next best thing up until now, but are an electronic-only solution; unless you’ve learned to “read” a barcode yourself, they add little value alone.

Printed materials with Touchcode technology offer two solutions, however. The printed information itself is understandable by anyone who can read while extra information or links to other data works with a touch-capable smartphone. I’d call that a win all around if Touchcode can get clients to start using its codes during the print process.

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“North America is a little behind right now, but could catch up fast,” Malm said via email. In fact, the globe is just beginning to embrace NFC, with shipments growing 87.8 percent annually, Berg projected. The analyst firm expects NFC device shipments will reach 700 million in 2016.

NFC is the key technology behind mobile payments, which operators in the U.S. are just now beginning to adopt. Even though 40 NFC handsets were launched globally in 2011, according to Berg, only a handful made it to the U.S., mainly because few carriers are actually supporting NFC mobile payments services.

Google has launched its carrier-independent Wallet payment service in its two Nexus devices, but so far Sprint is the only operator to support it. Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile – which together account for the vast majority of U.S. mobile accounts – are launching their own competing NFC payments service, called Isis, this summer. Until then the mobile payments market in the U.S. will likely remain dormant.

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Nokia Hello leverages NFC, or near-field communications, chips to link two phones together. Instead of trying to speak the translation, you simply tap your phone to someone else’s and the translated text appears in their native language. There are other ways to do this of course: Some translation apps read words aloud, for example. But this solution is quiet so it could be used in a noisy environment or by someone who has hearing challenges.

As positive as the project sounds to me, I think the Nokia researchers may be taking things a little too far. In a blog post describing Nokia Hello, it sounds like the team is hoping for a full quiet-zone in the workplace:

The team working on the project estimate that the need for speech interactions with work colleagues could be eliminated entirely by 2015. Excellent news for those working in multilingual environments or who despise their workmates.

The multilingual environments part I get, but good for people who despise their workmates? Way to spread the cheer, Nokia! That funny tidbit aside, the project does show another smart use for NFC; a technology we typically associate with contactless mobile payment solutions such as Google Wallet.

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I like to review these predictions because they help keep me honest with readers, but also because the exercise reminds me to be humble in my writing for the upcoming year: Mobile technology is moving so quickly I’ll never bat a thousand. Here’s a look back at what I wrote nearly one year ago to the day, along with evaluation of the effort.

iOS and Android

• “I do believe (and have since earlier this year) that a Verizon iPhone will at the very least, be announced in January. And it’s an even money bet that the iPad will gain the rumored cameras required for FaceTime, too.” — These weren’t too difficult to see coming, but I called them correctly.
• “ iOS will likely see improved notifications in iOS version 5.” — Another winner here, and one of the reasons I actually bought an iPhone in 2011 after abandoning my old iPhone 3GS for Android devices. I’ve always preferred the Android notification method, and Apple improved upon it. Android 4.0 brings back parity in this area.
• “Thanks to more robust mobile broadband options, I expect Apple to offer iTunes music streaming in 2011.” — I was close, but not quite right. Apple did move iTunes libraries to the cloud, but mainly to store music files, not to stream your library in the traditional sense.
• “Android phones will come closer to rivaling the user experience of Apple iOS devices, but they’ll still fall short. It won’t matter in terms of platform market share, and more developers will code for both iOS and Android, with a greater emphasis on Google’s platform if pressed to choose just one.” — I’ll call this one partly right, as Android 4.0 does rival iOS, depending on who you ask and their personal preferences. Developers are mainly focusing on iOS and Google, but more are attracted to the better monetization offered by iOS, even though Google is ahead in market share.
• “Google will design one stock Android handset for Verizon’s LTE network.” — This was perhaps my most spot-on prediction: The Samsung Galaxy Nexus for Verizon is a flagship LTE phone that’s exclusive to the carrier in the U.S. But I’m still happier that I went with an unlocked GSM Galaxy Nexus from overseas: It removes the carrier control from my handset and gives it to me instead.
• “Motorola Mobility will have a solid first year due to Android phones and tablets, but won’t see huge growth until it can gain additional large carrier partners and the backing they provide.” — Motorola didn’t gain a large carrier partner, but it did win serious backing when Google announced intent to purchase the company. Still, I was wrong on this one and didn’t see the Google purchase as a possibility.
• “The iPad will continue to sell in record numbers next year, but the combined sales of Android tablets will be close behind at the end of 2011. Consumers will still pass up Microsoft Windows 7 tablets.” — The iPad still dominates tablet sales, and by most measures, Android isn’t close behind yet. That could change with Android 4.0 tablets, but I thought we’d see them by now. Microsoft Windows 7 tablets are selling as well as prior Windows tablets — as in not very.

Intel, HP, Nokia and Microsoft

• “Intel will finally deliver on its Atom effort and get the chip in a few phones, but none will be blockbuster successes. While Android can be ported to Intel’s x86 chip architecture, few will tackle the effort because of investments in ARM technology.” — It was another year of missed opportunity for Intel, as I was wrong on timing this one. In 2012, Intel expects to enter the smartphone game with new silicon.
• “Intel’s best showing will be in Nokia MeeGo devices (more on that below). Even with a few available products, the gap between Intel- and ARM-powered handsets and tablets will continue to widen.” — When you don’t have much showing, there really can’t be a “best” showing for Intel. And ARM continues to rule the roost when it comes to mobile chip architecture in successful products.
• “HP will debut a half-dozen new webOS products: mostly phones, but at least one tablet too. Even though I expect a compelling interface and feature set, webOS still won’t see a market share higher than 6 percent in 2011 as developer mindshare is focused on Android and iOS.” — The biggest fail on my list as webOS is effectively dead and gone, having been handed down to the open-source community: a damn shame.
• “Microsoft’s Kinect product will keep the Xbox a leading platform and the device will continue to be used for various interface hacks” — The Xbox 360 continued to be the top-selling console month after month this year. And there has been no lack of Kinect-powered interface hacks demonstrated, including robots that use the Kinect for vision.
• “Microsoft will officially support the device in an update to Windows 7, and my son will still not be able to beat me in a Kinect game.” — Microsoft added Windows 7 support for Kinect in June. and my son has yet to beat me in a Kinect game. I’m getting older by the minute though, so I may not be able to replicate this feat in 2012.
• “Nokia’s smartphone market share will stabilize, but not grow beyond 40 percent as cheaper Android phones will flood the market by the second half of the year. The company will continue to tout MeeGo, which will become available in the form of six devices in 2011.” — Even with my own lowered expectations for Nokia, the company — and its smartphone market share — crumbled in 2011, in hopes of rebuilding its future. MeeGo has been abandoned as a strategy, so I blew this one big time.
• “There will be talk of Microsoft buying Nokia, but it won’t happen. Windows Phone 7 on a Nokia device might, however, as a short-term trial strategy for both parties.” — Microsoft hasn’t officially bought Nokia, but it did pay the company more a billion dollars to use Windows Phone going forward.
• “Microsoft will demonstrate a lighter, touch-optimized platform for tablets by mid-2011 and follow up with products near the end of the year. Research In Motion’s PlayBook will gain enterprise customers in 2011, but businesses will adopt the iPad, and possibly even Android tablets, far more heavily.” — Microsoft has demonstrated a Metro interface that will be used tablets, but products aren’t yet available. Businesses are favoring iOS and Android tablets over the PlayBook.

Samsung

• “Samsung will continue to leverage the Galaxy brand and approach with fewer new smartphone models in 2011. Instead, the company will take the lesson learned from 2010: Design one base handset and tweak slightly for carrier customization. The company will sell 17 million or more such handsets as a result. — The Galaxy S II is that phone, and as of September, sold 10 million units. That was prior to the handset arriving on three of the big four U.S. carriers, so I think I did well on the prediction.
• “I expect 5 million Samsung tablets to sell next year, both in 7-inch and 10-inch sizes. And while Apple will continue its digital audio player dominance, Samsung will grab a 5-percent chunk of the market currently held by Apple’s iPod, even more if Google Music is available in dozens of countries.” — Again, it’s difficult to find tablet sales data by manufacturer, but IDC suggests Samsung sold 1 million tablets in the third quarter, so I suspect my figure of 5 million for the year is high, pending holiday sales. Samsung was late to market with its Android-based iPod touch competitors, so I’m considering my 5 percent prediction to be wrong.

Chips, carriers and other tech topics

• “Although phones with dual-core processors will debut in early 2011, more than 25 percent of smartphones sold by the end of the year will use dual-core chips.” — I haven’t seen data specific to smartphone sales by the number of processing cores, but I suspect I got this right. Perhaps I even underestimated the number of dual-core smartphone sales when you look at the models that use them: Apple’s iPhone 4S, Samsung’s Galaxy S II, Motorola’s Razr and many other popular handsets.
• “Smart homes with web-connected automation will slip into mainstream conversation, but near-field communication will still be confusing due to a lack of mobile payment standards.” — Smart home products are gaining momentum but aren’t part of everyday conversation just yet. NFC for mobile payments is still a moving target for the reason I predicted, which is why I took matters into my own hands with Google Wallet.
• “Although U.S. carriers will continue to rely on network offload solutions such as femtocells and more public Wi-Fi zones, at least one carrier will supplement current data plans with a truly metered trial option.” — This prediction was mostly correct until the last phrase, as no U.S. carrier has offered a pay-for-what-you-use data plan.

Overall, I think I fared well, but I’m raising the bar for 2012 because I’d like to have even more accuracy in what to expect. Some of my 2011 predictions may carry over to 2012 because I was off on timing, but I’ll be spending the next day or two focused on my Magic 8 Ball to see what 2012 will bring!

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