Does Motorola RAZR XT910 support NFC with Gingerbread or Android ICS 4.0? Engadget says the device has an NFC controller. What does this really mean?
2 Answers
The RAZR does have an NFC chip in it. Currently the device does not have the drivers so the OS can make use of the chip. Motorola has been quoted to say that the RAZR is getting NFC support when the device gets the ICS update. Basically, the device could support NFC now, but Motorola, for one reason or another, did not include the components that would be needed for the Android OS to communicate with the NFC chip.
What are the benefits of upgrading a device to Ice Cream Sandwich?
Ice Cream Sandwich brings an entirely new look and feel to Android. It has a redesigned user interface with improved multi-tasking, notifications, Wi-Fi hotspot, NFC support and a full web browsing experience.
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According to the Engadget link in the question above, the Linux driver is present but the hardware is misplaced/misconfigured. I believe that hardware is missing and the OS driver is present. So, If I upgrade to Android 4.0 i will be able to use NFC right? Does XT910 & XT912 support NFC? Nexus vs Razr says Razr support as NO. I am very confused about this feature. Thanks Commented Mar 29, 2012 at 19:17
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if there was something wrong with the hardware, motorola would not be able to "turn on" NFC with just a software upgrade, which is what they are promising in the link. Your link says no, because the current version of the OS that motorola has on the RAZR does not have support for the NFC chip. Commented Mar 30, 2012 at 14:08
Yes it does have the controller. Now will it act like the nexus in NFC user friendliness? No. Required software is locked because what they are attempting to do is use a sim card as the antennae making Verizon able to control the NFC chips full capabilities. This way limits how much information can be transferred by NFC. Now it will be supported later on but if you truly want full blown NFC without restrictions then get the phones with supporting hardware.
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1Would you be so kind to add a source for this information, please?– ce4Commented Sep 5, 2012 at 19:21