As a long time HTC fanboy (my last seven handsets have been produced by the Taiwanese company), my current daily driver smartphone of choice is the HTC One M8 (Verizon). Purchased back in July of ‘14, I’ve had plenty of experience using this device to try to tap to pay at many locations, and have had many of both successes and failures to write about it here. Here’s the major tip I’ve learned:

Tip: Location, Location, Location

The first phone that I was able to tap-to-pay with successfully with was the HTC Droid DNA for Verizon. After Softcard was made available to my device, and acquiring the necessary NFC SIM card (simply stop by your Verizon store to get one for free if your handset is mentioning something like “Enhanced Security SIM”), I went out, and immediately had success using the phone to pay CVS. It may have taken three tries, but I could get the phone to work in the end more often than not.

I mention this to make the important distinction between the two devices: the polycarbonate back of the Droid DNA allowed for simpler NFC connections (including the simple Android “bump” for sending pictures and the like) than the full aluminum wrap the encompasses the One M8. As such, you have to be more on target with both your phone and the terminal that its transacting with.

From online research, I’ve learned the NFC unit in the One M8 is located in close proximity to the rear camera assembly. With it located at the top of the device, when tapping at a terminal, you basically want to come close to (if not actually) tapping the camera to pay. Terminals with wide sweet spots like the one at McDonalds are by far the easiest to pay at, as I simply need to place the camera on the tap to pay symbol, and the transaction processes. Other terminals, like the ones used at my local Subways, are not so simple. To date, I’m only one for three in getting the transaction to initiate at Subway, whereas my mother and her Samsung Galaxy S4 (another polycarbonate build) are a solid three for three. The Subway terminal will be its own research project, and expect a separate article to be written once I experience more success.

Bottom line for the HTC One M8 and NFC? Lead with the camera. Whether it’s to simply share pictures with a friend, or to pay for light bulbs at Home Depot, the usage of aluminum in the devices unibody construction means you need to be much more accurate when trying to use NFC.