Sorry, Samsung Pay: How Google Pay found its way to my heart (and wallet)

With the occasional exception that I pulled a credit card out of my wallet, since the middle of March when I started, I barely reached into my purse Work from home and shelter on site. One arm of my sunglasses lazily hangs over the side next to a soft cleaning cloth that is also draped over the edge. It’s not just that Corona virus curfew That turned my beautiful handbag into a glorified sunglasses stand. It is also renewed confidence in mobile payments, leaving me with my wallet more than ever.

Here’s another change: Samsung Paythat I almost used for every five years of its existencethat I previously evangelized to my family and friends and that I once wrote I felt like a rock star. – is no longer my payment app of choice. I recently gave it up for Google Payand I didn’t look back. Why? It’s all in the thumb.

Before I explain why I made the switch, I want to clarify my attachment to mobile payments – and why Samsung Pay was particularly convincing. I have followed important developments in this area since 2009, long before Samsung Pay was available. Remember these chunky ones first attempts to swivel a cell phone over an RFID tag glued to a payment card terminal? I do. What about Cringey “bump” between two phones Transfer money via PayPal? I was one of the first to try.

I’ve been unraveling ever since often confusing definitions of “mobile payments” and asked the Key players of the day – including ISIS, a Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile company that soon (and understandably) changed its name.

When Samsung Pay came on stage firstIt had something special that made it stand out Apple Pay and Android Pay, Google Pay’s Precursor. Samsung Pay was and is the only mobile payment platform that almost works any Credit card readers, not just payment terminals that support NFC, the short-range communication system used by Apple Pay and Google Pay. This second technology, magnetic secure transmissionis what makes credit card swipes work, and it remains Samsung Pay’s special sauce.

Because of the MST support alongside NFC, I saw Samsung Pay as a pioneer in mobile payments compared to Google and Apple. It seemed to be developing faster and doing more. When visiting South Korea in 2016 I experienced The then growing bag of tricks from Samsung Pay first-hand before they came to the United States. And last year when I forgot my handbag at home and spent the day with Samsung Pay as a walletI had starry eyes and was grateful.

But something happened in March that finally changed my mind.

The straw that broke the back of this camel

The London Underground has been tapping your phone at the turnstile for several years to buy a one-way ticket. For a visitor like me based outside of the city, using tap-to-pay is more convenient than setting up a transit card, and I never have to worry about how much residual value I can’t spend.

Tap-to-pay is easy to use. You just hold your phone over the card reader, wait for the ticket counter to open, and go through. But when I used Samsung Pay on mine Galaxy S20On my first try, they often didn’t open and forced me to try again or find a companion while my friend or family was waiting on the other side of the turnstile. I felt like every time I knocked, held my breath and kept my fingers crossed, that I wouldn’t be the most hated figure in the underground: this person blocking the gates.

Why did I try so hard to do this work? The key point with mobile tap-to-pay is making transactions faster and easier. I had to try again or embarrassedly explain to an employee why I was stuck More Time and trouble, not fewer.

My problem with Samsung Pay was not new. In fact, I’ve complained about it in my videos and written reviews for years. With Samsung Pay, swipe up to open the app. You then need to enter a PIN or authenticate yourself with your fingerprint or iris scan (on older Galaxy models) to “wake up” the Samsung Pay software. If the fingerprint scan does not work immediately or if you have entered the wrong PIN, you must return the phone for verification before you extend it again via the device.

I can still see the thin expressions of the cashier’s forced patience in my mind’s eye.

Back in London, I complained to a friend about my underground experience, who reminded me that Google Pay skipped the second authentication step, a detail I had forgotten. That was reason enough for me. As soon as I started using Google Pay regularly, my fears disappeared. As long as the Galaxy S20 Plus I have used is unlocked (see below), it works wherever NFC payments are accepted. Every time.

The big advantage of Google Pay: speed

With Google Pay, you don’t have to swipe your payment card, enter a second PIN, or unlock the screen again with your finger. It’s good to go as soon as you unlock your phone with your fingerprint or password. This one level of authentication is sufficient. (You need to use a secure lock screen for Google Pay.)

Some transit payments do not require you to unlock the phone at all, a Google spokesman said, although I haven’t used public transportation since the switch.

Of course, Google Pay has another advantage: The availability on all Android phones makes it accessible to a larger number of people, not just those who use Samsung devices.

Samsung Pay’s big win is no longer as important as it used to be

When Samsung Pay first came on the market in 2015, the almost flawless ability to buy goods and services at almost every payment terminal made me feel like an accomplished elite who could outsmart the machine with a wave of my phone.

I would watch the faces that warned me that “Apple Pay wouldn’t work” would change from impatience to awe if the Samsung phone I had in hand did just that, driven by the inclusion of the MST- Samsung Pay technology alongside NFC. Samsung has proven that pay-by-tap can work 2015 reliable enough to leave the wallet at home (or forget it, like I did last year).

But in 2020, Samsung Pay’s Ace won’t play a big role in my sleeve. Millions of stores now support NFC, especially in the urban centers where I shop, and I don’t need the MST magic that Samsung Pay works where Google and Apple’s apps don’t. To be fair, most of the places I shop today are limited to the grocery, Target, and takeaway restaurants during these days of closure.

Samsung Pay still offers a lot of great side features that range from reward points to in-app purchases, and you may even find that MST technology helps Samsung Pay work in more stores that you live in. However, my needs are pretty simple. Get in, pay as seamlessly as possible, get out.

I may not shop in as many brick-and-mortar stores as I did three months ago, but I find that in my simpler lifestyle, I am more dependent than ever on mobile payments. Where I used to hang my entire wallet for my daily commuting and weekend outings over my shoulder, I now put my cell phone in my pocket, take off my sunglasses and know that Google Pay can easily meet my daily needs without the people upset lined up behind me at 6-foot intervals. It hasn’t disappointed me yet.