Near field communication (NFC) support is a feature that's becoming increasingly common in Android hardware, allowing users to do things like pay for goods and wirelessly share content with other people. Last year, Samsung introduced its TecTiles programmable NFC tags that allowed users to assign a certain task to a tag and, when an NFC-capable phone tapped on that tag, it would perform that task. A problem with those TecTile tags, though, is that they use an old NFC protocol that prevents newer hardware from reading them correctly.

Samsung has revealed to PhoneScoop that it plans to address its TecTiles issue by releasing a new version of the tags that feature up-to-date NFC tech. "TecTile 2 will use the current NFC technology on the market, allowing Samsung customers to further incorporate NFC into their daily lives," the company explained. That means that the new TecTile 2 tags should play nicely with recently-released hardware, including Samsung Galaxy S 4. Samsung expects to release its TecTile 2 tags in the coming weeks.

There are quite a few different uses for NFC, but for one reason or another, some folks may not be able to take advantage of the tech included with their devices to perform certain actions, like making mobile payments. These TecTile tags allow consumers to put their NFC-capable hardware to work, though, and so the upcoming TecTile 2 tags could be worth looking into for people that are curious about NFC or anyone that wants to use the programmable tags to quickly perform certain tasks in their life, like changing settings or launching apps.

There's no word yet on how much Samsung plans to charge for its TecTile 2 tags, but its original tags were priced at $14.99 for a pack of five. Stay tuned and we'll update you with more details on the TecTile 2 tags as we get 'em. Do you have a phone or tablet with NFC support? If so, how often do you use that feature?

Via PhoneScoop