Google has just announced a new Gingerbread update with the version 2.3.3 that brings new NFC capabilities to Android. NFC (Near Field Communication) was a feature that was introduced with Android 2.3 and allowed people to use their Android phones (with NFC chips) as virtual tickets or credit cards and opened up a whole new world of possible advertising. The capabilities of its applications were pretty limited at the start, as it only allowed reading. Well with the latest version of Android, NFC can now be used to write or transmit data. Google has also included new APIs (application programming interface) to give developers to code more functions involving NFC and increased its support for a wider range of NFC standards. In addition to new NFC features, Google has made improvements to Bluetooth, Graphics, Speech Recognition and Media APIs. In the mean time, we’re still waiting for manufacturers to officially update their Froyo (2.2) phones to Gingerbread. Looks like the Nexus S is the only phone that will be getting this update.
