SOLVED: What is the N (with waves) at the Top of My Samsung Galaxy S3

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:

1. Clicking SETTINGS
2. WIRELESS & NETWORKS
3. unchcking NFC