PayPal for Android updates with NFC, tablet support

Finally, an alternative to Google Wallet – now if only I could find somewhere that actually accepts NFC payment. PayPal completely remade their Android app today, adding near-field communication support, though support for actual retail payments seems to be a little lacking. A completely new layout, a more minimal interface, and a new widget round out the additions. You can download the latest version in the Android Market now.

Tablet support has been added, even if it’s really just a scaled-up version of the smartphone UI. And it’s hard to imagine someone lugging a 10-inch XOOM into a 7-11 just to avoid pulling out their wallet. Unfortunately, It looks like you can only request money via the homescreen widget, not pay, and that necessitates another Android user nearby with an NFC-enabled phone. Who owes you money.
Other than some widened support and those new features, it’s the same PayPal app that users have grown to rely on. A split bill calculator makes divvying up a dinner check or gas receipt easy. After a quick install on my Samsung Skyrocket review unit, the app seems stable, but unfortunately it isn’t recognizing the phone’s NFC chip. We’ll see if the support improves in a future update. Now if only Google would add PayPal support to Android Market purchases…

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• PayPal may finally be coming to the Android Market (goandroid.co.in)

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PayPal may finally be coming to the Android Market

There are a lot of supporters, and to be fair, detractors, for PayPal. But since Android is all about choice, the lack thereof has irked the debit-card-toting masses behind the eBayer’s payment of choice for some time. But according to some of the folks at AndroidGuys, some code found in the latest Android Market indicates that the payment service will be added soon.

Rumblings of PayPal support have been running around the Android rumor mill for years, but so far, it’s been just that: rumor. Of course there’s the official PayPal app, and you can use PayPal for many in-app purchases, like ComiXology, but the addition to the Market could make paid apps a lot more accessible to international Android users, or those who just don’t want to sign up for yet another online payment system.
The code found in the Market app is certainly promising. It’s hard to imagine why Google would put it in there if they didn’t intend to use it, and soon. And it’s a bigger deal than you might realize – lots of contractors and online workers get most or all of their salary via PayPal, and official support would mean one less hoop for them to go through to get some app action. With Google expanding into book, movies and soon music, they might be eager to make paying as easy as possible.
[via Phandroid]

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