Lumi Deco Nail combines near field communications (NFC) with beauty.
Takara Tomy, a Japanese toy company, has designed a new way to use NFC technology by incorporating it into a line of false nails known as Lumi Deco Nail, which light up when the wearer interacts with an NFC-enabled device.
NFC radio waves make the LEDs in the nails light up.
Fake nails are an incredibly popular fashion in Japan and around the world, most notably among women. It has become the trend not to simply have painted false nails, but to have them decorated with gems, stones, and a variety of plastic shapes, etc. The Lumi Deco Nail is available in a number of different designs to suit a variety of tastes.
What makes the Lumi nails stand out from the crowd are the incredibly tiny LEDs that are included in the nails, which are only 0.5mm thick. The LEDs illuminate when NFC radio waves pass close to the nails. This can occur when the wearer comes in contact with devices equipped with NFC technology are activated. For instance, the nails can light up when an NFC-enabled smartphone is used or when a call is made on a mobile phone. They can also light up if the wearer taps their contactless payment or travel card on a near field communication reader.
NFC tech gives smartphones and POS (point of sale) terminals the ability to communicate at a short range when they are tapped together. Information is sent and received through devices via NFC tags and other tiny transmitters. Although not every company supports the technology, it has received strong backing from Visa, MasterCard, Samsung, GSMA and others.
The NFC technology works best with Android smartphones.
The NFC technology deco nails were primarily developed to work with contactless communication radio waves. For the most effective results, Takra Tomy recommends using their nail products with Japanese and Korean brand Android phones like HTC, NEC, LG, Samsung, Fujitsu, Sharp and Sony Xperia. The Lumi Deco Nail is available for purchase in Japan. Each pack contains 16 nail stickers and a nail file. The cost is 1,200 yen ($12).
