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I thought I'd order some smart tags to see what the first decent NFC apication I've come across can do.
Initially I was pretty impressed. Turn on NFC, wave the phone near a tag and Smart Connect pops up asking what you want the tag to trigger. Each event in Smart Connect has begin and end actions - begin is triggered by NFC detecting a tag and end is handled on the phone when you stop the event (there is Smart Connect item in the notification bar to make this really easy.)
So far so good, it's all really easy and slick to use.
The only problem is that the NFC detection only currently works if the phone screen is unlocked and on. This means if I want to leave a tag in the car to switch on my BT and start my navigation app, then I can't just get in and swipe the phone near it... I've got to unlock the phone first! Niggle!
For a first outing, this is still good so hopefully Sony will offer the ability to use tags without unlocking the phone at some point in the future.
Just thought I'd share in case anyone else is thinking of making a purchase.
On sgs3 it was the same as far as I remember and some custom roms had option in settings to work while screen off. Hopefully, for you, it will be ported/done for Xperia T also (aokp had that option and some other cm10 derivates)
Sent from my LT30p
If you want to take better advantage of NFC's potential, I'd recommend buying some generic tags and downloading NFC Task Launcher from the Play store. Generic tags are cheaper, has higher capacity, and NFC Task Launcher can do a lot more than Smart Connect. Combine it with Tasker and you can do some seriously cool ****.
yesyesimanoob said:
If you want to take better advantage of NFC's potential, I'd recommend buying some generic tags and downloading NFC Task Launcher from the Play store. Generic tags are cheaper, has higher capacity, and NFC Task Launcher can do a lot more than Smart Connect. Combine it with Tasker and you can do some seriously cool ****.
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Click to collapse
Where can you get generic tags, any link maybe?
If my phone could trigger actions without being "under my actual monitoring" (On and unlocked) in reaction to NFC tags, I 'd consider that quite unsafe.
At least, there should be some kind of restriction system, like : you can trigger actions only on this particular list of "declared secure by the user" tags.
Maybe the software Yesyesimanoob (what a funny user name, sorry) speaks of can do it, i don't know.
Nickola
yesyesimanoob said:
If you want to take better advantage of NFC's potential, I'd recommend buying some generic tags and downloading NFC Task Launcher from the Play store. Generic tags are cheaper, has higher capacity, and NFC Task Launcher can do a lot more than Smart Connect. Combine it with Tasker and you can do some seriously cool ****.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Had a bit of a scare when my mate who has an SGS3 swiped his phone near one of my tags and his NFC task launcher detected and reprogrammed my tag so I couldn't use it.
Luckily Smart Tag Maker on the Play Store can fix them but it's a bit crap if just anyone can reprogramme them.
vid200 said:
Where can you get generic tags, any link maybe?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get mine from tagsfordroid.com (US). I don't really know international sources well enough to suggest a reliable one, sorry, but the tagsfordroid.com ones are just rebranded "Mifare Classic" tags, so you might want to look for that. They have about 700+ bytes of usable capacity, so you can put more on a single tag than the Sony ones (48 bytes).
---------- Post added at 04:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:24 PM ----------
emuX said:
Had a bit of a scare when my mate who has an SGS3 swiped his phone near one of my tags and his NFC task launcher detected and reprogrammed my tag so I couldn't use it.
Luckily Smart Tag Maker on the Play Store can fix them but it's a bit crap if just anyone can reprogramme them.
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Click to collapse
Not sure about the Smart Tags as I don't have one, but NFC Task Launcher can make a generic tag read-only, so once you've programmed it, no one (including yourself) can reprogram it ever again.
---------- Post added at 04:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:27 PM ----------
nickola said:
If my phone could trigger actions without being "under my actual monitoring" (On and unlocked) in reaction to NFC tags, I 'd consider that quite unsafe.
At least, there should be some kind of restriction system, like : you can trigger actions only on this particular list of "declared secure by the user" tags.
Maybe the software Yesyesimanoob (what a funny user name, sorry) speaks of can do it, i don't know.
Nickola
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have to be rooted to get NFC to work while the screen is off, and that's only available for certain devices right now, with a custom APK. Maybe it will come to the Xperia T eventually, who knows.
nickola said:
If my phone could trigger actions without being "under my actual monitoring" (On and unlocked) in reaction to NFC tags, I 'd consider that quite unsafe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed that blanket access for all tags would be bad so some sort of control would be required (e.g. You can enable certain tags to work without unlocking the phone - such as the Blue (car) tag.)
It is really cool but I have no idea how can it be used to make me convenient because before you scan the nfc tag, you should open your screen and unlock it.
niuzhd said:
It is really cool but I have no idea how can it be used to make me convenient because before you scan the nfc tag, you should open your screen and unlock it.
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Click to collapse
Works best when you want to trigger multiple actions. For example, when I get into my car, I swipe a tag to activate in-car mode, which involves:
- Maximize media volume
- Lower notification volume
- Activate gesture media controls (via a Tasker profile, or alternatively you can try the app Wave Control for this)
- Activate SMS reader/auto-responder
Swipe the same tag again before exiting car to disable car mode.
yesyesimanoob said:
Works best when you want to trigger multiple actions. For example, when I get into my car, I swipe a tag to activate in-car mode, which involves:
- Maximize media volume
- Lower notification volume
- Activate gesture media controls (via a Tasker profile, or alternatively you can try the app Wave Control for this)
- Activate SMS reader/auto-responder
Swipe the same tag again before exiting car to disable car mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you using Smart Connect or NFC task launcher? (My smart connect doesn't switch the options off when you swipe a 2nd time.)
emuX said:
Are you using Smart Connect or NFC task launcher? (My smart connect doesn't switch the options off when you swipe a 2nd time.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
NFC Task Launcher. It has an option to create a "switch", which will alternate between two series of tasks each time you swipe it. Of course this means you're writing more data to the tag, which the Sony Smart Tags are probably too small to contain and hence Smart Connect doesn't provide the option.
I ordered these: http://www.amazon.com/NFC-Tag-Bundl...qid=1350520268&sr=8-1&keywords=tags+for+droid
They came quickly despite not being Prime Eligible. The quality is very nice and I look forward to testing them out when I get my phone later this month,
2 pices:
Ebay link
In case anyone is interested, I worked out how to write protect my Smart tags so they can't be hijacked by anyone who wants to write to them.
First, you need to read the existing content. (I used NFC Tag Writer by NXP, as it allows you to copy the content straight to the clipboard.) I then used NFC Writer by Tagstand to write the same content again but with the write protect option set. I had to write the content twice to be able to write protect - first in the normal way (no option to protect) then again via history with the option to lock in top right of the screen.
I've now locked all mine so they will always be the correct IDs for SmartConnect.
nickola said:
If my phone could trigger actions without being "under my actual monitoring" (On and unlocked) in reaction to NFC tags, I 'd consider that quite unsafe.
At least, there should be some kind of restriction system, like : you can trigger actions only on this particular list of "declared secure by the user" tags.
Maybe the software Yesyesimanoob (what a funny user name, sorry) speaks of can do it, i don't know.
Nickola
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Click to collapse
It's called "Turn NFC Off". It's built into every Android with NFC.
dragon_76 said:
It's called "Turn NFC Off". It's built into every Android with NFC.
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Click to collapse
Not exactly. If NFC is OFF (and it definitely is on my phone), there is no reaction to any smart tag.
What I meant is, that there should be a possibility to specify a list of "user tags", the same way you can declare a Mac Addresses list on your WiFi access point/ISP router.
Anyway I've given up on using NFC.
Nickola
Smart Tags are much more beautiful than general ones...But may I ask how much u spent on them?I found them very cheap in local stores and thought that they were not original ones.
nickola said:
Not exactly. If NFC is OFF (and it definitely is on my phone), there is no reaction to any smart tag.
What I meant is, that there should be a possibility to specify a list of "user tags", the same way you can declare a Mac Addresses list on your WiFi access point/ISP router.
Anyway I've given up on using NFC.
Nickola
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Click to collapse
NFC doesn't serialise chips. Any "user tag" could be cloned, passive devices being much more difficult than active. RFID, and NFC by extension, were designed to be simple. The fact that companies or individuals have chosen to use the technology in a way that may compromise security is irrelevant to the technology. Its biggest security feature is that it requires physical access within just a few centimetres, and it requires one device to be "smart" and know what to do with any information in a tag.
You can always put a little tinfoil hat on your phone to match your own...
To be honest, I never pay much attention to Smart Tag until I saw this thread, LOL
I downloaded the app NFC Writer from the play store and it let me blank the NFC tag on the cradle for my gear watch
Then I used the app Trigger to reprogram it. I figured I'll never need to pair it again now that I paired it to my phone and this way I can make it launch other programs and do other things instead. I have a sony bluetooth speaker with an NFC tag to pair it with my phone and I was able to do the same thing with it too!
I figured i would tell you guys since I'm sure you will think of really creative ways to use it
Sorry because I'm a new user xda won't let me post links to 3rd party sites so you'll have to search the apps yourself
hi, just on a sidenote, every time you update Gear manager software, or the Gear watch Rom, (the best ) is that you either reset watch when you update(clean install) or just update you need the cradle to pair ! (yes, you can manually pair also, but it is i found this to be more of a hassle and takes more time) So keep this in mind.
note8.0 for xda
How do you remove the NFC tag from the cradle?
sidhu.jaz said:
I downloaded the app NFC Writer from the play store and it let me blank the NFC tag on the cradle for my gear watch
Then I used the app Trigger to reprogram it. I figured I'll never need to pair it again now that I paired it to my phone and this way I can make it launch other programs and do other things instead. I have a sony bluetooth speaker with an NFC tag to pair it with my phone and I was able to do the same thing with it too!
I figured i would tell you guys since I'm sure you will think of really creative ways to use it
Sorry because I'm a new user xda won't let me post links to 3rd party sites so you'll have to search the apps yourself
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You may be better off using NFC ReTag instead because you don't need to wipe the NFC tag in order to define actions. NFC ReTag simply lets you define the actions when an ID is read....you can disable the actions if you ever wanted to revert your setup.
All-in-all, you will get the same end result without having to erase/overwrite the tag in the cradle.
is it going to be possible? anybody know?
Do you mean continuously (as in, use the phone as a Bluetooth GPS speaking a protocol like NMEA)? I don't believe it's built in, but you could probably write an app to do it (the BT interface is, I think, available to app developers). There might even already be such an app.
Do you mean one-time (like the way you can send your location in an SMS, but via Bluetooth instead)? Nothing I know of comes to mind, so you'd probably need an app for that too. That one seems less useful, though; most devices that have BT either already have their own GPS (or otherwise know approximately where they are anyhow) or are trying to track their own motion and would want continuous updates.
GoodDayToDie said:
Do you mean continuously (as in, use the phone as a Bluetooth GPS speaking a protocol like NMEA)? I don't believe it's built in, but you could probably write an app to do it (the BT interface is, I think, available to app developers). There might even already be such an app.
Do you mean one-time (like the way you can send your location in an SMS, but via Bluetooth instead)? Nothing I know of comes to mind, so you'd probably need an app for that too. That one seems less useful, though; most devices that have BT either already have their own GPS (or otherwise know approximately where they are anyhow) or are trying to track their own motion and would want continuous updates.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
continuously, sharing GPS location with another device over Bluetooth. I wish I could write an app like that but I can't program
thanks for the answer gd2d, I hope its possible. I also hope that the ability/app is not limited to having to be active and not running in the background (ie get a text, respond to it and lose your location)
p.s. No app "currently" exists,,,,, at least from what I've searched in the store
BTW, WP8.1 isn't out yet, or even in public pre-release. We know some of the features that will be added, but not all of them. To the best of my knowledge, this isn't on the known list. Anyhow, WP8.1 won't release for probably another few months, even in preview form (though I could be mistaken).
GoodDayToDie said:
BTW, WP8.1 isn't out yet, or even in public pre-release. We know some of the features that will be added, but not all of them. To the best of my knowledge, this isn't on the known list. Anyhow, WP8.1 won't release for probably another few months, even in preview form (though I could be mistaken).
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Click to collapse
I know, I am just curious, with all the SDK info that is out I thought somebody might know something
When developing an application for desktop windows, there's always a way to access functionality - sometimes through back doors like the registry, etc... I'm developing an application for Windows Phone 8.1, but there are certain pieces of functionality that aren't exposed in the PRT APIset that is available to me. For example, we want to ensure that the user has password protection on the lock screen when using the application. There doesn't seem to be any associated APIs to readily use. So my question is, are there back door ways to do such things? How? Is there a way to access ALL system settings - like a registry or something of the like?
proch said:
When developing an application for desktop windows, there's always a way to access functionality - sometimes through back doors like the registry, etc... I'm developing an application for Windows Phone 8.1, but there are certain pieces of functionality that aren't exposed in the PRT APIset that is available to me. For example, we want to ensure that the user has password protection on the lock screen when using the application. There doesn't seem to be any associated APIs to readily use. So my question is, are there back door ways to do such things? How? Is there a way to access ALL system settings - like a registry or something of the like?
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Click to collapse
Another question would be - if something like intune can enforce lock screen password policies, shouldn't I be able to do it the same way that intune does it? If so, how? If not - why not?
It's not possible to check if user enabled lock screen password or not as far as I know
but if you want to made your app secure (because it may include important data)
you can create a password for your own application !
I did it in a little notepad app my password page allow user to set a password with all English and Persian Characters , numbers and special Chars like [email protected]#$ and etc.
Sent from my RM-994_eu_poland_1183 using Tapatalk
It's pretty easy to check, using the registry, but at least in 8.0 that's not allowed at all for store apps (your app would get rejected). I don't know if the rules changed for 8.1. There are ways to sneak past the store checks, but they could pull your app from the store if they ever found out. I know of at least three ways to access the registry APIs (4 in WP8.1) and two of them are pretty hard to detect unless somebody checks for them specifically... but they're the kind of technique that malware uses, so such checks may be in place.
I don't know what InTune is doing, specifically - I'd need to pull the app apart to see - but there are special application capabilities (not normally available to third-party developers) that can query and even set policies. Apps without those capabilities will get Access Denied if they try to use the same methods though, and normally you can't add those capabilities to your app.
GoodDayToDie said:
It's pretty easy to check, using the registry, but at least in 8.0 that's not allowed at all for store apps (your app would get rejected). I don't know if the rules changed for 8.1. There are ways to sneak past the store checks, but they could pull your app from the store if they ever found out. I know of at least three ways to access the registry APIs (4 in WP8.1) and two of them are pretty hard to detect unless somebody checks for them specifically... but they're the kind of technique that malware uses, so such checks may be in place.
I don't know what InTune is doing, specifically - I'd need to pull the app apart to see - but there are special application capabilities (not normally available to third-party developers) that can query and even set policies. Apps without those capabilities will get Access Denied if they try to use the same methods though, and normally you can't add those capabilities to your app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this great and detailed information. See, that's exactly what I'd do if I were developing a desktop app - since i know that intune does it, I'd figure out how intune does it and voila. I'm finally getting over the idea that the same methodologies apply to windows phone development.
For my own educational purposes (since I want to understand this platform better), I would really like to know specifically how you go about accessing the registry APIs (for example). If there's any way for you to describe any number of these methods, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks again!
My NativeAccess libraries (check my signature, or search on the forum or on Codeplex) contain an example of one way to access the registry. The code is open-source; you may use the libraries as-is (don't expect to get them into the store, though I won't stop you from trying), use the source code as a reference, or modify/build them yourself; the license is very liberal (MS Permissive). The functions I use are generally documented on MSDN, in the desktop APIs section; the phone has the same functions, although the DLL names are changed and the header files hide them.
Hi,
I'm disappointed with AA. I think there is some space for an open source alternative to this system which is so closed.
Moreover the end of life of the standalone version makes me feel that Google doesn't care much about their customer experience.
I tried the Google Assistant driving mode and it's... a disaster for now.
I think it would be easy to create a great AA like launcher. But to make it succesfull there must be a community and an ecosystem around that. Apps are important even in automotive context.
Typically Waze is a key app that many drivers want.
At this time I'm wondering what is the best approach to start this kind of project. I see few show stoppers and I'm interested to get some thought from you about that.
1/ Head unit integration : long time ago I worked on the reverse engineering of the AA protocol. I discovered that the protocol is using SSL certificates. Head units holds a public key and mobile use a private key provided by Google Play Services. The problem is that these certificates have very short lifetime (about 6 months) and if I remember fine the root cerificate will expire in 2030 or something. I don't think that head unit s check the expiration date anyway (because many of them don't have system time). But for sure you need a Google private key in order to initiate communication with a head unit. The key could be captured decompiling code few years ago, don't know if it's still as simple as that.
If head unit really don't check the expiration date then it could be possible to replace the whole AA stack with an independent one.
But even if this work I'm not sure it's possible to disable the native AA protocol and take control of the USB port without rooting.
2/ Apps integration. There are 2 categories of Automotive apps : media apps and navigation apps. I think there are also a category for messaging apps.
Navigations apps are apps that provides an automotive friendly display. Waze does this for example.
Media apps are easy to integrate becaase they rely on the legacy mediabrowser APIs.
Integrating the navigation apps is tough. Because these apps are exposing a special AA service that only privileged apps can invoke (by default).
However apps dev can also allow a third party app to connect their dispkay service. This won't ever happen except if the car launcher become mainstream.
Good point is that would not require any change in implementations : it's just an access right problem.
I have seen a lot of car launchers in Play store. They all display the apps on native mode which is not what you want while driving.
Any comments to this ?
I would also like to see an alternative way...but unfortunately I did not find anything yet.
I'm also not happy with everything on Android Auto.
For example:
- I have apps (e.g. navigation) that are not compatible with Android Auto
- I can't accept Whatsapp calls on Android Auto
- The navgation of media apps is not the best way (if you want to change the playlists, there are way too many inputs necessary)
- I can't turn off Google Maps (GPS) to preserve battery and reduce heat on the phone
- I need internet (I live in a rural area...therefore sometimes I don't have internet and then in a lot of times, Android Auto just crashes...)
- I don't like Google's update policy (it's just good luck if a new version of Android Auto works stable). I want to have a working version and leave it on the phone.
From a user standpoint I definately would like to see an AA alternative. I don't need to watch videos or anything like that but there are a few necessary apps for me that AA doesn't allow.
SOFO888 said:
- I don't like Google's update policy (it's just good luck if a new version of Android Auto works stable). I want to have a working version and leave it on the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can achieve that by disabling Android Auto automatic updates on Play Store app.
CaioTheBrain said:
You can achieve that by disabling Android Auto automatic updates on Play Store app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, unfortunately not. Every Google app has an expiration date, also Android Auto. This expiration date then forces you to update your app. Otherwise it will not start.
There are a few Android dongles that trick the car's headunit into thinking it is connected via Android Auto. However, most of the devices are CarPlay AI units that trick the headunit into thinking is is connected to a CarPlay device and then display the Android system through the headunit. But they are all buggy.
Perhaps something can be learned from how they do that. An app that mimics Android Auto but allows full user control would be great.
I am by no means an expert but I want to help do this! I liked using rooted devices for AA and having AA tweaker but I always felt like it was just the start of something not a finished product so I'm definitely down with this. What I feel like would be the simplest approach would be making an Android auto app that (it communicates with your phone and doesn't need data) runs on a cheap tablet that you put on your dash or wherever in the car and from there you have full control over the app and device. Just my thoughts
Did someone tried sreen2auto? Its mirroring your phone to your android auto. Search it on XDA forum.
drnightshadow said:
Did someone tried sreen2auto? Its mirroring your phone to your android auto. Search it on XDA forum.
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Click to collapse
I used to use Screen2Auto but it required too much upkeep every time Google made changes to Android Auto. The last time it broke I couldn't get it working again.