HTC leapt into supporting NFC (near-field communications) for the first time with an Android phone. The Stunning uses the short-range wireless to handle mobile payments, which for now is running on China UnionPay’s device-independent standard. Roughly a dozen major Chinese cities will get NFC-aware terminals with help from banks to handle the transactions.
Only some details of the Stunning are known beyond the choice of OS, although it will have a four-inch screen. It’s most likely to use Android 2.3 and is running HTC’s own Sense interface layer.
China at a minimum will get the Stunning as soon as September. HTC hasn’t said if or when the hardware will go to other countries, although it might need to switch NFC chipsets if it does.
