One of the features of my BlackBerry Bold 9900 that I hadn’t explored until recently was the ability to use Near Field Communication or NFC. NFC is used with BlackBerry Tag – it allows you to share apps, files, video, music, voice notes, pictures, and contact information with another NFC enabled BlackBerry by simply tapping them against each other.  I have to admit that it’s pretty neat to be able to share pictures with friends simply by tapping my phone to theirs.  I keep waiting for more friends to upgrade to Bold 9900s or other BB7 devices so that I can use it more.

Another application of NFC technology is in the creation and use of smart tags.  Smart tags are like QR codes but ones that actually work.  The difference is that you need to tap your NFC enabled device against the smart tag to engage them and they can contain more than a website address.  Smart tags can contain a range of information – phone numbers, websites, email addresses, coupons, media files, and graphics.  They’re very versatile.  With the Bold 9900, you can create and view smart tags.  I have only found 1 smart tag to view but I’m always on the lookout for more!  As more and more smartphones have the ability to access smart tags, there will be more and more smart tags around.

To turn on your NFC, go to “manage connections” and select Near Field Communication.

BlackBerry 7 devices come with a Smart Tags app already installed – it’s found in the Applications folder and looks like this:

So have you used the Near Field Communication abilities on your BlackBerry yet?