Got Suica Apple Pay – Need AirPods
My Jet Black iPhone 7 Plus arrived last weekend and I finally got to use Suica Apple Pay instead of just writing about it. Loading Suica commuter pass into Apple Pay was quick and easy, and I was on my way through a regular work week. This time with iPhone 7.
My first impression matched Japanese Suica Apple Pay user comments on Twitter: “It works…Sugoi!” Suica transit is slick and fun to use with iPhone 7 but I quickly realized how much I want those soon to arrive Apple AirPods. Listening to music with wired headphones while pulling out iPhone to go through the station Suica turnstile in one smooth motion takes practice. Too often I find myself digging deeper in my pocket to avoid tangling the headphone wires which still manage to catch a backpack strap or coat button.
I also learned not to play Pokemon Go while going through a Suica turnstile, it kills the iPhone Felica NFC signal but this seems to fixed in the iOS 10.2 beta.
Suica store purchase experiences were varied. Mini Stop, 7-11 and Sunkus convenience stores were all easy and seamless. Lawson and Aeon stores force you to choose the payment method first before putting iPhone near the reader. And then there is the Transaction Media-Networks UT1-Neo NFC reader.
The TMN UT1-Neo reader is temperamental and in my experience always fails if you rest iPhone on the reader. If you run across a UT1-Neo reader, and you will, hold iPhone at an angle above the reader, not flat, just like they do on the Apple Japan page. That has worked well for my iPhone 7 Plus.
You must be logged in to post a comment.