Re: Samsung Wallet vs Google Pay

In article <v1dn2p$pp8$1@softins.softins.co.uk>, tony@mountifield.org
says...

 
In article <MPG.40a01ed34f6ff8e098970b@paganini.bofh.team>,
Jim the Geordie  <jim@jimXscott.co.uk> wrote:

Yes I have a Samsung or I wouldn't have asked and yes I have NFC.
 
I simply wondered whether the physical action of paying is simpler with
one or are they both the same.
The question arises because I often get asked (by a bloody machine!) to
try my fingerprint again when it had already accepted it 5 seconds
earlir. Grr.

 
I noticed this annoying feature which started relatively recently with Google Pay.
 
After doing some research, I found that Google made an update a couple of
months ago, such that every transaction requires that you have been
biometrically validated within the last few minutes. On my phone (Xiaomi),
Face Unlock is no longer considered sufficient, but fingerprint is. So if I
unlock with face recognition and then try to tap on a pay terminal, it fails,
then asks me for my fingerprint, then tries to pay again, hopefully with
success. Some terminals will need the retailer to reset the transaction before
you can retry.
 
There are two workarounds that I found:
 
1. Turn off face unlock, so that I always needed to use fingerprint to unlock.
I tried this for a while, but it lost a lot of convenience in day-to-day use
of the phone.
 
2. When about to pay for something, open the Google Wallet app, and look above
your card image for a box that says "For your security, you need to verify
that it's you before paying." with a blue link "Verify that it's you". Tap on
the link just before trying to pay, enter your fingerprint, and then tap the
phone on the pay terminal.  The box will disappear and the payment should then
work first time. There is a timeout of two or three minutes (I haven't timed
it, but it's not as short as "5 seconds") before the app will ask again for
you to verify. OK, this is more steps than just unlock and pay, but this is
the procedure I now use, as paying for something is much less frequent than
needing just to unlock my phone, and there is time to open the app while the
retailer is entering the transaction.
 
Hope this helps
Tony

Thanks Tony. Nice to have someone answering my question without raising
the moral question of cash vs card/phone.
After a bit of experimentation I find the Samsung Wallet easier to use.
It always asks for fingerprint. Google offers options.

--
Jim the Geordie