The Nokia MD-310: a real-world NFC use-case
No, seriously.
Honest to God, I genuinely have found a piece of NFC kit that not only works really well, but also fixes a problem I didn’t know I had.
I was at Nokia’s fancy new London HQ recently and I spotted the above piece of tech hanging up on the wall in the lobby. ‘I want one of these!‘ I cried. And lo and behold, a couple of weeks later, one arrived in the post for me to review. Hurrah for the internets.
So what does it actually do?
The Nokia MD-310 is, in a nutshell, an NFC-enabled bluetooth receiver for your home stereo. How that translates into the real world is as follows:
That shiny circular thing in the photo plugs into my audio system and sits nicely in my front room. Whenever I get home from work, or from a run, and I want to carry on listening to the music on my handset, I just tap my device on the glowing circle and, two seconds later, my tunes switch from my headphones to my speakers.
Simple.
How is this a problem I didn’t know I had? Well I only really use my main music system for music these days. It’s a gorgeous Marantz surround sound set which only gets to stretch its legs when I watch a film or want to get super-immersed in an Xbox game.
It misses music, much.
Having the MD-310 (gotta do something about that name) to hand means that not only can I play music from my phone from a simple tap, but I can also share my music from my Mac via bluetooth too. This is nothing short of brilliant. And it’s this multi-platform compatibility that makes this an essential piece of kit for me.
It’s quite amazing to know that these things were launched over 18mths ago now but, with the prevalence of NFC increasing month on month, this accessory deserves the timely resurgence it seems to be having.
They’re just over £40 on Amazon right now and, given some places have them up for nearly double that(!), I’d say the MD-310 is worth a look.
It’s useful, it’s kinda cool looking (I think I’d prefer a black one though) and my home stereo system has never been happier.
FUTURE: ENABLED.
Tags: accessory, bluetooth, nfc, NFC-equipped, Nokia
February 16th, 2013 at 12:01
[...] Boy Whatley recently posted about his new favourite NFC toy – the Nokia MD-310 (catchy name, guys!). That reminded me – there was an interesting use of NFC which I'd seen in Las [...]
February 20th, 2013 at 18:55
This, but HDMI for video…I’d be sold.
[Reply]
April 9th, 2013 at 19:52
[...] Social Marketing fanatic James Whatley got his hands on the MD-310 and gave us his real-world account… [...]
May 15th, 2013 at 16:31
[...] Social Marketing fanatic James Whatley got his hands on the MD-310 and gave us his real-world account… [...]