You normally can’t turn a non-NFC device into an NFC device, but that’s all about to change… The vWand Stylus actually successfully does that for you, and can work on both smartphones, and tablets. For some reason, very few companies have jumped on the NFC bandwagons. It always seems like this is going to be the “next big thing”, but somehow, it never turns out that way, but something we should keep in mind, is that NFC definitely has it’s value, AND, now that we have access to technology like the Stylus, you don’t need the device of choice to be NFC-ready. So long as you have this little wand, you can sync it right up to your bluetooth, and then to your tablet or smartphone via that bluetooth, and you’re then good to go. The pen will then allow you to write to NFC elements.
As far as the pen itself is concerned, it’s very light-weight, which is nice. That’s one of the upsides to this product, because you don’t want to be lugging around something that’s designed to work hand and hand with things that are meant to be portable by nature (smartphones, tablets, etc). However, it should be noted that the pen is annoyingly thick, so don’t expect it to fit right into your hand like a normal pen or pencil would. I guess that’s why they’re using the word “wand” instead of pen. While this little gadget is annoyingly wide, it’s still fairly comfortable, with it’s plastic exterior.
There are also two lights on the exterior. One that lets you know whether or not the device is on, and the other that tells you whether or not it’s ready to start scanning things. The wand itself will allow you to draw whatever you want, but also, by tapping the back-end of it to different preset NFC options, it will let you accomplish various things. For example, launch your e-mail, bring up your phone, OR even go so far as to remember, and then load, very specific web sites for you. Very neat.
Unfortunately, even though this device is pretty amazing, it’s just not ready to be sold to consumers to use on their everyday devices just yet. It’s still mostly just for businesses who need to use it to perform very specific tasks, such as retail stores scanning multiple items for identification purposes, or something of the like. Mostly, it’s being marketed as a business to business device at the moment.
However, don’t lose hope, as the vWand will likely be headed for the mass market very shortly, so you can expect to one day use it for your everyday activities, on your regular device. However, if and when that day comes, will be determined mostly by how the vWand performs in the business to business market, so we’ll just have to keep an eye on its success there, before we can make any judgement calls for when you’ll be able to pick it up at you’re local Best Buy. In the meantime, we may just have to go NFC-free for a while.