The two entities Google Wallet and Verizon have had a rocky relationship ever since the service launched. Verizon jumped on ship with ISIS as the mobile payment system they wanted on their devices, so anytime you wanted to use Wallet, it has to be through the rooted channel. Thanks to the hard working guys at XDA, you can now install Wallet on your new Galaxy S4, but once again, you must be rooted. 

After making sure that your device is rooted with a custom recovery, there are still a few steps that you need to walk through to make sure everything is working smoothly. To make the deal even sweeter, this modded Wallet package will work on AOSP and TouchWiz-based ROMs so everyone should be in luck. To get the download and for full instructions on installation, hit the source link below.

Via: XDA

Cheers Open1Your1Eyes0, James, Jon and Phil!

Google Wallet Working for Verizon’s Galaxy S4, as Long as You’re Rooted is a post from: Droid Life

This morning, Google announced the availability of Google Wallet for new Android devices. The newly approved devices are Samsung’s Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 2, along with the HTC One on Sprint. US Cellular also got some love, as their Galaxy S4 is also now compatible with the mobile wallet service. 

If you own one of those devices on Sprint, you can pick up the Google Wallet app through Google Play, starting today.

Play Link

Via: Google+

Google Wallet Now Available For Sprint’s Galaxy S4, Galaxy Note 2 and HTC One is a post from: Droid Life

Click here to view the embedded video.

Have you ever thought about sending money to someone through a Gmail message? Even if you haven’t, you’ll soon be able to. Shortly after the Google I/O keynote today, the Gmail team announced Google Wallet integration into Gmail messages. In the coming months, as they rollout the service, you’ll be able to send cash to someone in an email thanks to Google Wallet. 

Google Wallet is now integrated with Gmail, so you can quickly and securely send money to friends and family directly within Gmail — even if they don’t have a Gmail address. It’s free to send money if your bank account is linked to Google Wallet or using your Google Wallet Balance, and low fees apply to send money using your linked credit or debit card.

It’s like sending an attachment of cash to your friends. Kind of a neat idea that I had no idea I would ever need. Can’t wait to try it.

Via:  Gmail Blog

You’ll Soon be Able to Send Money to People Through Gmail is a post from: Droid Life

Remember the physical Google Wallet card that was first spotted back in November? Well, according to sources of AllThingsD, that project has been pushed back after CEO Larry Page received a final demo of it last week, leaving the meeting unimpressed with the “glitchy” service. From what the source states, Page wants something that presses innovation more like Square and other startups are doing currently. 

Although a card is said to not be rolling out, they will be updating Wallet with new rewards, offers and loyalty points to help the service compete and stay relevant to Apple’s PassBook.

Even though this might be a step back for Google, we still wish the service was completely supported on Verizon and other carriers.

Via: AllThingsD

Cheers Open1Your1Eyes0!

Google Wallet Card Reportedly on Hold, Won’t Be Shown Off at I/O Next Week is a post from: Droid Life

Certainly got a laugh out of this.

Cheers @Blink1st

How Ironic: Verizon Ad Shows Up in Google Wallet is a post from: Droid Life

Back in February, the Android community was in a buzz over allegations that Google was sending their personal information to developers. We did our own investigation and laid out the facts as we saw them. In an update for Google Wallet (not the app, the commerce site), rolling out over the next few weeks, Google looks to be addressing those allegations and alleviating any remaining concerns people might have. We’ve got access to the new Wallet Merchant Center and are ready to dive in and put this issue to rest indefinitely. 

The most obvious change is the layout and design, which mimics the improvements Google has been making across their products. In the old checkout listing, the customer’s name was a part of the order details column, but this is no longer the case. Instead, the developer is just presented with an anonymous list of app purchases, albeit in a much cleaner presentation. They’ve also removed the charge/ship columns as those never made sense for digital products. It looks like Google has finally made the system a bit more friendly for app developers. Check out a comparison of the new (on the left) vs the current.

Full size

Looking at the order details page, we can confirm that Google has gone one step further. Developers are no longer presented with the customer name or their email. All that remains is the general location of the purchase, which is needed for tax purposes. Information is now condensed and offers a fresh presentation. Good job, Google.

Full size

Privacy is such a hot topic these days and it’s surprisingly refreshing when a change is made in the consumer’s favor. Google has been under fire regarding their privacy policy and this improvement, while probably unrelated, will certainly earn them some brownie points from concerned web denizens. The updated Google Wallet Merchant Center is currently rolling out to developers over the next few weeks.

Google Removes Privacy Concerns with Latest Wallet Update for Developers is a post from: Droid Life

The NFC Forum was founded in 2004 and has companies from around the technology world working together to try to get NFC into as many hands as possible. Google joined the group in 2011 as just another member of the group, but the Forum announced today that Google is now on the Sponsor level, which gets them a spot on the board of directors.

We don’t know if Google is going to use this new position to try and push NFC into more of a household name, but it’s no secret that Google would love for NFC to become more widespread. Their Wallet application is currently unable to gain traction as a physical payment system, no thanks to carriers and card companies. Maybe they will use this position to help move things along. 

Via: The Next Web

Google Promoted To NFC’s Board of Directors With Wallet Clearly in Mind is a post from: Droid Life

Samsung took the wraps off their newest smartphone venture that will almost undoubtedly appear as part of the Galaxy S4 launch, it’s called “Wallet.” As the name suggests, it’s a mobile wallet of sorts, though at this time it’s more like Apple’s Passbook than a mobile payment system in that it stores tickets or membership cards instead of credit cards. Samsung took the stage during their developer day at Mobile World Congress to show off the app and to welcome in developers to the API. 

At this time, the app is nothing more than a ticket and coupon card management system. If you have a flight or hotel reservation that you need to keep track of, Wallet will do that for you in a card-style view, again like Passbook. For launch, Samsung has already partnered with companies like Walgreens, MLB, Expedia, Booking.com, Hotels.com and Lufthansa.

Keep in mind that Samsung just announced a new partnership with Visa this week, which we would assume means that mobile payments are a part of the near future, likely through this app since it is called Wallet, after all. What good would a wallet be if you couldn’t use it to buy anything?

Launch is reportedly set for March 7, the week before the unveiling of the Galaxy S4.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Via:  TheNextWeb

Samsung Introduces “Wallet” Application, Looks a Lot Like Passbook for Now is a post from: Droid Life

Google Wallet received its first update in some time, today on Android. The changelog mentions that it includes “improvements to the user interface, application stability, and battery life,” which I can confirm. Gone is the opening page with shortcuts to sections for payment cards, reward cards, offers, and transactions. In is a new properly themed Holo and panel UI. 

After entering your PIN, you are dropped onto the “My Wallet” page which lists your current funding source, along with bottom shortcuts to your offers, rewards cards and gift cards. With a swipe from the right, you can view all of your recent transactions. Another swipe from the right gets you to featured or nearby offers that can be accessed or saved. If you want to switch funding sources, simply tap on the card showing and you will move to a separate section for adding or switching cards.

And that’s that, on a UI front. It sees much more simplified if you ask me. They also mention battery life improvements, but there isn’t really a way for me to test that.

If you aren’t running a Verizon phone, go grab the new build!

Play Link

Google Wallet Receives Update With Improvements to UI and Battery Life is a post from: Droid Life

Having realized that your phones can be used for things other than making calls, like paying for goods on the go, Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile teamed up to create a joint venture called Isis Mobile Wallet. It’s goal is to become your one and only NFC-based mobile payment system. While the service hasn’t rolled out nationally, it is being tested in two markets:  Salt Lake City and Austin. For those who live in these two cities, you can test the service to your heart’s desire this very minute as long as you have a phone with an NFC chip inside. The rest of us, we have to wait until it gets the thumbs up for a bigger rollout.

In the mean time, we thought we’d put together a little tutorial on the app since we were able to get a hold of one of Isis’ requirements, an NFC SIM card. We typically like to do our best at preparing the DL community for what’s to come. So let’s talk about it.

NFC SIM Card

With Isis Mobile Wallet, you are required to use a brand new NFC-equipped secure SIM card. We aren’t fully sure the reasoning behind this, since there is an NFC chip in most phones, but it likely adds a level of security that Verizon and its partners feel more comfortable with. In fact, if you try to load up Isis on your NFC phone, it’ll fail as it looks to the Secure Element of an NFC SIM for approval. Once you drop an NFC SIM in, the app fires right up, and starts the setup process.

If you live in Salt Lake City or Austin, you can pop into your local Verizon store and they’ll give you an NFC SIM at no charge. If you live outside of those areas, you can call into customer care and request one, which usually takes a couple of days to arrive.

Setup Instructions:

1.  Once you have inserted your NFC SIM and it has activated, you are ready to setup Isis.
2.  Install the app from the Google Play store.
3.  Upon first launching the app, it’ll check your phone to see that you have a correct SIM inserted.
4.  Once verified, you will walk through a brief setup that asks for account, password, and PIN.

5.  Isis will work on preparing the secure element of your phone which takes a few minutes.
6.  Once finished, they will notify you via text that you can use Isis.

7.  Now, open the app, input your PIN, and get to the real goods – setting up cards and offers.

Isis App Tour

Once you are inside the app, it’s time to navigate around, setup cards, find offers, and figure out how to use the damn thing. For most, you should initially see the Isis Cash prepaid card. This is a VISA that can be loaded with as much cash as you wish, but to get you into using the service, Isis will give you $10. Well, unless you are me, who they apparently decided wasn’t worthy of this perk. All I could do was add credit cards – there was no prepaid card for me.

On a credit card front, we should point out that you can’t add any card of choice. At this time, Isis only supports Capitol One, Chase, and American Express cards. We hope they open it up to all cards at some point, but for now, this is what you get.

I should also point out that the setup process isn’t all that simple. Both Capitol One and American Express redirect you to outside websites for setup. Once you walk through the process, you have to wait for the credit card company to process your request to add the card to Isis, which could take several minutes. Once approved, you will receive notice and your app will then show your card connected. Definitely not as seamless as Google Wallet.

Beyond cards, depending on your locale, Isis will also show you local offers and a feed of nearby deals from companies or businesses they have partnered with. For me, Macy’s was it, however, once I changed my zip code, I was able to see a number of deals for places in Salt Lake City.

When viewing an offer, you are able to use a barcode that can be scanned in store (I’d assume because the store doesn’t have Pay Pass or pay-to-tap capabilities) or you can hit the button to give you the power to tap.

The app itself is setup with panels that can be accessed by selecting the appropriate button at the bottom for Home, Isis Feed, Directory, or More. On the main page of the app, you have a top portion that allows you to flip between cards and a bottom portion that allows you to flip between offers. Other than that, it’s a pretty self explanatory service.

I’ll hopefully have some time to test the actual functionality of the app in the coming days, but so far, it seems a bit more difficult than I had imagined. There are toggles to activate things, no way to add your normal bank card, and some bugs that will more than likely be addressed.

I can help but compare this to Google Wallet, which in my early opinion, is a far superior mobile payment system to Isis. Google Wallet allows you to add any card in your wallet, and also makes it incredibly simple to pay for things with it. There are no on/off toggles – just tap, pay, and go. Too bad Google Wallet has been banned from our lives by the companies behind Isis.

Cheers Jason!

How to: Setup Isis Mobile Wallet on Verizon is a post from: Droid Life

Last week, we put together yet another new piece that discussed Verizon’s reasoning for not allowing Google Wallet to work on their NFC-equipped devices. In a response to an FCC complaint, VZW argued that since Google Wallet requires interaction with the “secure element” of a phone, that it’s different than normal applications, including other m-commerce apps. Since it needs to access this “secure element” in order to function, Verizon isn’t OK with it and has asked Google to make sure that it doesn’t work on their phones. However, with their own mobile payment app, they appear to be 100% behind an app using that same “secure element.” 

As you all know, Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T have been working on their own NFC-based mobile payment system known as Isis Mobile Wallet. It’s essentially identical to Google Wallet. Many of us have argued over the last year that these three carriers are simply blocking Google Wallet because they have their own payment system in the works, something that they all deny. While we may never know the complete truth to the story, this latest find by one of our readers who installed Isis on his Galaxy S3 is certainly worth mentioning.

In the screenshots above, taken directly from the Isis Mobile Wallet app on a Verizon Galaxy S3, you can see mentions of the previously talked about “secure element.” In fact, the phone requirements for the app speak of this “secure element” as a “dedicated component in your phone” used to store payment cards and everything else needed to properly run a mobile payment app with NFC. Basically, that’s everything that they said was bad about Google Wallet, and that if Google removed this requirement, that its app could be used on Verizon phones.

We had initially tossed out the idea that maybe Verizon was asking Google to add in NFC-SIM requirements to the app, since Isis works with newly created NFC-SIM cards. Whether that is or was the case, it doesn’t appear to matter, as Isis will still use the “secure element” inside your phone, which again, is the same “secure element” that Verizon mentioned as the reasoning behind their stoppage of Google Wallet. They clearly are OK with their own mobile payment app accessing this.

Look, we could probably argue and complain about Verizon and other carriers’ ridiculous control over smartphones for days, but in the end, these are all just more reasons to think about leaving your carrier and buying an unlocked phone like the Nexus 4. Once you have freed yourself from contracts and the subsidy cycle, your mobile experience will be so much more open and free.

Cheers Christopher!

Verizon is OK With Isis Mobile Wallet Accessing the Secure Element on Your Phone, Just Not Google Wallet is a post from: Droid Life

Google Wallet originally launched in September of 2011. Here we are over a year later, and the mobile payment app is still not available to Verizon’s NFC-equipped phones. Even after refuting reports that they were blocking the app, when they actually were blocking the app, it’s still an app that is only available to select unlocked phones and a couple of others on Sprint. Why is that? 

Verizon has continued to argue that they aren’t stopping you from installing the app (which is now true thanks to the FCC), but that the app hasn’t been approved to work with their devices because it’s different than the thousands of other apps in the Google Play store. Their argument, which is laid out in a response to an FCC complaint (pictured below), suggests that since Google Wallet uses the “secure element” on your phone, it needs to go through a separate approval process of theirs, one that Google apparently knows about already. The letter also mentions that Google is free to remove the secure element requirement from the app, and join the likes of PayPal and Square that have approved payments apps. Yeah, because that doesn’t defeat the entire purpose of Wallet.

We aren’t exactly sure what this special “process” is that Verizon is referring to, but if we look at their own Isis Mobile Wallet app, we might have an idea. Isis – the joint venture between T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon – is the first mobile payment system to use NFC-equipped SIM cards that appear to add an additional level of security to NFC payments. Google Wallet doesn’t currently work this way, it only uses the secure NFC chip attached to your phone. If building in NFC SIM support is all Google needs to do, you would think they would have gone that route already. Unless of course, it’s not that straightforward, which it likely isn’t.

At this point, it’s become a bit ridiculous. We all know that Verizon has a competing service that’s on the way. For Google Wallet to have been released over a year ago and still find itself left off of the hundreds of NFC phones that are available, it feels like this is much bigger than Google following a special “process.”

Via:  XDA

Cheers ItsASamsung!

Verizon Responds to FCC Complaint Over Blocking of Google Wallet, Says Google Needs to Change the App is a post from: Droid Life

Back in September, Google announced that the prepaid card program through Google Wallet was coming to an end and that customers could receive refunds for leftover funds around October 17. Sure enough, on October 17, the refund form went live, giving those of us with non-working Google Wallet apps (thanks Verizon!) or those with remaining balances a chance to get their cash back. Some of us weren’t sure if it would work for non-supported devices, though, since some of the form’s boxes had to be left blank, again, thanks to non-working Wallet apps.

Also, after filling out the form, users who requested refunds were left in the dark as to when they may receive those funds. Up until moments ago, when I received a status report from Google, I had no idea if or when I would be receiving a refund. According to the email above, that silence was due to “processing issues” that have now be resolved.

If you have yet to receive your refund, there is a good chance that it will be in the mail by December 22.

Google Wallet Prepaid Card Refunds Finally Going Out, Processing Issues Resolved is a post from: Droid Life

Android 4.2 has been announced to the world, but not released into our greedy hands yet. Thanks to a leaked system dump, the Google Apps package from Android 4.2 has been bundled and released for download if you are in a tinkering mood. We’re talking Gmail, Calendar, Clock, keyboard, camera, etc. It’s worth noting that Google split the package to not include Google Wallet, but there is a separate download for a new version of that. 

The Google Apps (GApps) package comes in a flashable .zip that can be used through your favorite custom recovery. Be warned however, you might want to check with the developer of your ROM to see if this will cooperate, or you could make a backup of your current build before flashing these, just to be safe. It never hurts to air on the side of caution when installing packages like these.

The Google Wallet is a .apk file that can be installed like any other sideloaded app.

Update:  We hearing from Keyan X, the man who bundled the apps, and he wanted us to note that stock ROMs are having some issues. These apps should work fine in AOKP or other ROMs, but 100% stock phones are having problems.

Download:  GApps (.zip) | Google Wallet [mirror] (.apk)

Via: AndroidSpin | @KillDroidHack

Android 4.2 Google Apps Package Bundled and Available for Flashing on the Galaxy Nexus is a post from: Droid Life

If Google’s own help site is to be taken as a legitimate source of information (and why shouldn’t it be?), then it just confirmed that a Google Wallet card or credit card is on the way. First mentioned a week or so ago thanks to a leaked Google Wallet app, this new card will help take Google’s mobile payment system to the next level by expanding it beyond NFC phones.

As you can see in the image above, the card will only work with currently supported devices on Google’s short list. I was personally hoping that this list would expand with the introduction of this new card and services, but Google appears to be locked into an approved list of phones and tablets. Not sure if that is carriers winning another battle or…OK, that’s exactly what this means.

Ignore that entire paragraph. If I actually read at this early of an hour, I would have noticed that it does say that the card can be used with “all Android devices with an operating system of Android 2.3.3 or higher.” Hooray! The NFC portion is locked to NFC-enabled phones on the list provided, but again, the card and app will now work with all phones once it is released. 

To recap, this Google Wallet card can be programmed to use a default card in your Google Wallet app. In theory, you could switch payment accounts on the fly if you so choose to. It gives you a ton of flexibility in making payments using a card. In fact, since Google Wallet allows you to load up all of your credit cards into the app, you could essentially leave all other cards at home and simply carry around the new Google Wallet card.

We are also expecting to see new features like money withdrawal, payment sending between friends, and the ability to load up transit passes.

This new version of Google Wallet sounds like the ultimate mobile payment system, it’s just too bad that Google can’t find a way to get the NFC portion onto any NFC phone. Come on Google, work some magic.

Via:  Google | TechCrunch

Google’s Help Site Basically Confirms “Google Wallet Card” is a post from: Droid Life