Nokia C7 to support NFC

Nokia’s new C7 smartphone includes an NFC chip that will allow the device to support near field communication functionality — once work on a software upgrade has been completed.

NOKIA C7: The first NFC-enabled smartphone?

Nokia has begun shipping its first smartphone to include near field communication functionality — but buyers will need to wait until a software upgrade has been finalised before they will be able to use their new phone to conduct NFC transactions.

The Nokia C7 is a touchscreen smartphone with an 8MP camera and HD video, and is being pushed as a consumer social networking phone. The Symbian ^3 powered unit also boasts GPS, an Amoled 640 by 360 pixel display and the full complement of smartphone sensors including an accelerometer, magnetometer and proximity sensor as well as NFC.

The device “can be upgraded later to support NFC,” a Nokia spokesman has confirmed to NFC World, but no release date for the software upgrade has yet been set. There is also no word yet on whether the phone includes an embedded secure element or if it supports the single wire protocol (SWP), the SIM-based secure element solution favoured by mobile network operators.

Nokia has confirmed, however, that the C7 is the only one of the four devices it unveiled at Nokia World last month to include NFC functionality. Neither the C3, the C6 nor the E7 contain an NFC chip.

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