Technology keeps getting better and better every day. Imagine paying a cashier by phone, without it leaving your pocket.
Google has said it is testing ways to let people use digital wallets
without having to even take smartphones out of their pockets. The
Internet colossus is dabbling with ways to make its Android Pay system
for smartphones hands-free, with verification by facial recognition,
Google product manager Pali Bhat said in a blog post. “Imagine if you
could rush through a drive-thru without reaching for your wallet, or
pick up a hot dog at the ballpark without fumbling to pass coins or your
credit card to the cashier,” Bhat said.
“This prompted us to build a pilot app called Hands Free that were
now in the early stages of testing.” Hands Free became available for
smartphones powered by Apple or Android software and was being rolled
out at a small number of Silicon Valley area eateries, including
McDonald’s and Papa John’s, according to Google. The digital wallet uses
Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections alone with location sensing
capabilities in smartphones to detect when someone is near a store
enabled with Hands Free payment technology.
“When you’re ready to pay, you can simply tell the cashier, ‘I’ll pay
with Google,’” Bhat said. “The cashier will ask for your initials and
use the picture you added to your Hands Free profile to confirm your
identity.” At some locations, Google is experimented with using cameras
in stores to recognize people with Hands Free digital wallets so they
could pay without even pausing.
Since Android pay was launched in September, and average of 1.5
million accounts have been registered monthly in the United States and
the number of locations accepting it has topped two million, according
to Google. “We’re busy working to bring the convenience of Android Pay
to more countries and a growing list of stores and apps,” Bhat said.
Google’s mobile wallet competes with Apple Pay and others as people’s
reliance on smartphones expands to using handsets to make payments.
source: Oscarmini
