NFC
(Near Field Communication) is a relatively new standard that lets you bump your
phone against a sensor (or another phone) to share information or make a
payment. Although it's widely used in Asia and some European countries, the
technology isn't very widespread in the US – only a few phones stateside sport
the technology, and payment sensors are still few and far between.
NFC-enabled
phones, such as the Samsung
Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy S II and
the LG Optimus LTE, can share videos, websites, and
apps with each other wirelessly (by bumping two phones together) or pay for
things using Google Wallet or the
forthcoming ISIS system.
If you
don't have an NFC-enabled phone, don't fear – an app called Bump lets
you share photos and info between phones in pretty much the same way. Bump can
be a little flaky sometimes, and it doesn't support wireless payments, but the
upshot is that it's cross-platform, so you can share things with your iPhone buddies, too.
