Since there are so many of these little ‘do-it-all’ cards appearing out of nowhere, I think it’s our job to embarrass them when they mess up so badly. And then us at WGTM feel that all these companies are buying the same technology from the same overseas retailer and just rebranding them to try and make a quick buck.” There’s Coin, Plastc, Swyp, and Final.
Here’s a review from Gizmodo, “Stratos Card Review: This Smart Credit Card Is Still Too Dumb” and some great takeaway notes.
“That promise is great. The reality is less so.”
Darren walks up to a bartender cleaning some glasses.
“Can I close my tab?”
“Sure, name?”
“Last name, Orf. O-R-F.”
Swipe.
“Um, your card’s not working.” Bartender inspects Darren’s strange piece of plastic for a card number (of which there isn’t any).
“Here, let me see.” Darren taps the card on the bar. “Try now?”
Swipe.
“Yeah, it’s still not working.”
Date looks inquisitively at Darren.
“Ok, just…just use this card.” Darren fishes out a normal card and it works great.
Fin.
“This scenario also played out in other locales like coffee houses and restaurants. Almost any time I had to physically hand my card over, I ran into problems.”
“I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was also a solution to a non-problem for me—removing three or four pieces of plastic in my wallet wasn’t really worth the added inconvenience.”
“Second, that tap-to-wake function is a real Achilles heel. If you give your card to a bartender or a waiter, it just isn’t gonna work unless you take the time to describe this weird technology to them.”
“Aside from these glaring usability issues, the Stratos Card really suffers from the same thing that all emerging technology suffers from—normal people don’t know what the hell it is—and without massive, widespread adoption, that’s not really going to change. You’ll continue hearing the familiar phrase “Um, your card’s not working.””
Yeah…. We recommend skipping this non-solution to the non-existent problem.
