Android 2.3.3 brings expanded NFC features

With the Gingerbread barely cooled on the Android 2.3 SDK, Google has now pushed another iteration to developers. In Android 2.3.3, it’s all about expanding support for near-field communications — that non-Packers NFC business we’ve been hearing so much about. In Android 2.3.3, Google has added a full-featured NFC read and write API, which will work with “almost any standard NFC tag in use today.” They’re also providing developers with better control over how their apps react when an NFC tag comes into range. Last but not least, similar to the Touchstone transfer wizardry shown off by HP on its new line of webOS hardware today, Android 2.3.3 has initial support for peer-to-peer connections with “other NFC devices.” Google obviously wants to get some momentum behind Android’s NFC support, not least because the company is likely working on an NFC-driven payment system. Let the proximity application awesomeness begin!