John Gruber wrote a great re-review of iPhone X with a related post on the Face ID – Double Click to Confirm Apple Pay gesture. It took some time to adjust but like Gruber the iPhone X side button double click to confirm Apple Pay works better for me than Touch ID did on iPhone 7.
But I don’t use it all that much because my main Apple Pay card is Suica set to Express Transit. Apple Pay Suica Express Transit on iPhone X is a winning combination. Here are some thoughts of using Apple Pay Suica for a year.
Suica Before Apple Pay
Plastic Suica was always more convenient and much faster than credit cards or pre-paid cards like au Wallet for store purchases. Regardless of the technology: chip and pin, EMV, FeliCa, or the card type: credit, debit, pre-paid; any card that uses the credit card processing system for transactions is always slower than Suica.
I don’t think there is anything out there that matches or beats Suica or any IC transit card for transaction speed. But speed is not everything. Despite the promise and convenience of plastic Suica, recharging it was a pain.
Not the actual recharge procedure mind you, Suica cash recharge is very simple but I always forgot to recharge plastic Suica at the station when the balance got low. Either that or I was cash short for a “decent” recharge of ¥3,000 or more. Suica was convenient, but not convenient enough for constant use outside of using it as a commuter pass.
The Apple Pay Difference
Suica and Apple Pay is a perfect martini of fast cash and slow credit with the secret dash of always online mobile technology. Apple Pay Suica recharge completely removes the cash recharge docking requirement transforming Suica into a super slick card for transit and store purchases that uses the pokey credit card for occasional financial backing.
This mobile difference that removes the Suica cash recharge docking requirement makes all the difference. Purchasing or riding anything, anywhere, anytime is simply pulling iPhone out and holding it to the reader. It quickly becomes second nature.
Japanese Android users enjoy Mobile Suica via the Mobile Suica app but iPhone users enjoy out of the box built-in Apple Pay Suica support which offers more flexibility along with the ultimate flexibility of using Apple Pay Suica with Apple Watch.
Hong Kong Octopus card users with Galaxy 8 enjoy a similar built-in service that removes the physical docking cash recharge requirement with the recently launched Smart Octopus on Samsung Pay. It will be interesting to see if the new service enjoys a similar Apple Pay Suica like uptake in the new year.
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