I have been looking at this “N” (see right) for weeks and have not figured out what it is doing. I have turned off WiFi so it should not find an 802.11 N networks. This was making me nuts.
It turns out that “N” relates to NEAR FEILD COMMUNICATION. If you don’t know what that is, you will soon. NFC allows your hand held device (typically a cell phone) to transfer data (like credit card information) to another device if it is VERY close to it. Sooo, if you want to pay for your Coke, you could just tap your phone to the Coke machine and bingo, you b’een charged. It is also used in Samsungs case to transfer files, pictures… between Galaxy S3 devices just by tapping the back of them together.
For now I have no use for it and like all radio’s, it is sucking down my battery, so I turn of NFC by:
- Clicking SETTINGS
- WIRELESS & NETWORKS
- unchcking NFC
27 Comments
amy · July 10, 2014 at 1:13 am
thank you!
shaky · June 16, 2014 at 4:51 am
Thx very muchh&
Tom G · May 25, 2014 at 5:19 am
Thanks for this, this only showed up on my phone this week, it has never been there before. How could it have been turned on without my knowledge or my doing it? has someone else tinkered with my phone? is this something I inadvertently did that turn this on? it sure was a drain on my batter.
Stacey Brent · June 27, 2014 at 6:08 am
It also only showed up for me this morning, after installing the new software update pushed by Verizon. Perhaps you installed the software update as well and this is part of that update.
Robbo wensley · May 18, 2014 at 12:56 am
Top Man Cheers fella
John-H · April 13, 2014 at 3:24 am
Thanks for the update, it was driving me nuts.
kaur · March 4, 2014 at 4:36 pm
Thank u so much
lee · January 23, 2014 at 8:20 pm
Ughh! Thank you so much. It was driving me crazy. Im so glad I finally googled it lol.
Mohammed Aslam · December 18, 2013 at 11:12 am
Its actually 1)setting 2) more settings. Just thought id clarify. Thanks
DiscoLover79 · December 6, 2013 at 10:41 am
Thanks for the detailed info much appreciated!
Stephanie Guy · November 30, 2013 at 1:44 am
Very helpful thank you.
sam · November 22, 2013 at 7:17 pm
I tried hooking up my usb cord to my tv to no avail and the n has been there every since wtf
Ian Matthews · November 29, 2013 at 12:04 am
Hi Sam;
NFC is unrelated to USB.
USB is unrelated to TV… well, mostly; you can buy an HDMI converter cable that connects to the USB but my testing did not go well with this feature. We would see about 5 frames a second which is just terrible.
🙁
Pasan · October 28, 2013 at 5:41 am
Thanz Dude
Kay · August 23, 2013 at 8:25 pm
THANK YOU you the best !
Abbi · May 24, 2013 at 2:51 pm
Does it eat up your mobile data?..
Ian Matthews · June 3, 2013 at 10:56 pm
I am 99.9999% sure that it does not use any mobile data. That is the point. Near Field Communications are direct.
I think this means your S3 has the following “radios”:
1: WiFi
2: Cellular
3: Near Field
I hope this helps.
Juan C Walls · July 27, 2013 at 5:43 am
And do not forget the GPS radio. It is a one way radio but radio after all.
Also there is an FM radio but it needs the earphone cable to serve as antenna.
There is also the Bluetooth, of course, but this is really a special case of wi-fi connection.
Yes, our tricorders are packed full of tiny radios 😀
Ian Matthews · August 9, 2013 at 5:04 pm
Yes, all the newer smartphones have amazing tricorder like features.
Note that the “North American” Samsung S3’s do not have an FM radio tuner, but the S2’s and at least some of the “International” versions of the of the S III DO have FM tuners:
http://www.careace.net/2012/02/01/how-to-use-your-samsung-galaxy-s-ii-fm-radio-tuner/
http://mobility.telus.com/en/AB/samsung_galaxy_s_III_16gb/index.shtml
Thanks for your comments!
stephane · February 15, 2014 at 9:10 am
thanks man ….call my provider and they say “we don’t know “
Sue · May 10, 2013 at 2:41 am
Thanks it was driving me mad too 🙂