Gadgetory

hey I'm Scott Stein and I do not pay for things with my phone generally I use a wallet but if you do feel like doing that they're already a bunch of mobile wallet systems out there but Lupe has come up with a way to do it using any credit card reader sounds kind of like crazy hacker magic right well it's enabled with a magnetic loop that duplicates what a credit card does when it slides through a credit card reader and Lupe does it's two different products the loop pay Bob and the charge case and actually get both in the system if you buy a charge case right now which they're selling for ninety-nine dollars the charge case works with the iphone 5s and five and the fob works with both Android and iOS and what does it do well this has a magnetic loop inside that allows you to press a button here and beam a transaction when it's pressed against a credit card reader or you use a loop wallet app on your iPhone this is where the scanning happens it actually has a square type credit card reader inside you scan your cards and plug it into your phone to transfer the information when scanned into the app or you can actually detach this and use it as its own little payment center here it's got its own button it charges up via micro USB and will store a default card so you could use this hand it to a waiter or pay for it around town how does it work well tried it a bunch of places bodegas delis gas stations and it works you have to hold it really close up to the reader you can't hold it at a distance and if you're paying in a place where the cash registers behind the counter you're gonna have to hand this over to them and the app itself actually has a number of secure failsafe measures there is a pin you of tender every time you launch the app the information is stored encrypted on the app they say on the hardware itself so it's not stored anywhere else and you have to bond it to your phone your phone number and also to your particular loop device or charge case if you swap those out or try using other people's credit cards they won't read so there's some security in that and you can actually scan not just your credit cards but your debit cards your loyalty cards your whatever you have that has a magnetic stripe now getting a place to accept this well it'll work but somebody might still want to look at your ID or to look at your original credit card and our countries that use used chip security or other types of methods for more secure payments what will happen to loot pay when those secure payment measures happen who knows but right now this really does work with magnetic card readers wherever you may find them if you went in on that it costs a hundred dollars for the case and again you get that fob included it's intriguing technology although the case itself feels a little bit thick and flimsy it stores a battery charge on here that can charge your iPhone with a little lightning dongle but it's only sixty percent of a full battery charge so it's not really a mophie or other battery case type competitor interesting stuff for the future though payments without payment systems I'm Scott Stein and that's the loop a charge case and fob