[tech] Hardware purchasing for card payment system

[Felix von Perger]

Dear committee and tech subscribers,

As some of you may be aware, I have been attempting to implement a card 
payment system for UCC using SquareUp <https://squareup.com/au> (with 
the Square Reader 
<https://squareup.com/shop/hardware/au/en/products/chip-credit-card-reader-with-nfc-au> 
hardware).

The Square reader itself is fairly neat, it has a slot to insert a card, 
a micro-USB 2.0 socket, a single button and 4 LEDs built in. It is 
however not a standalone payment system - a compatible Android/iOS 
device running the Square app must connect to the reader via Bluetooth 
in order to accept payments.

I've done a fair amount of testing on various devices with different 
custom Android images and have arrived at the conclusion that it would 
be virtually impossible to convince the Square app to connect to the 
reader on a non-stock (ie. rooted/modified) Android device (including 
android-x86 running on a laptop or VM). That leaves the option of 
purchasing a phone or tablet (ideally running Android, although iOS 
remains a possibility) as a "club device".

My recommendation for hardware is as follows:

  * Nokia 3.1 ~ $210 (such as
    https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/BRAND-NEW-NOKIA-3-1-2GB-16GB-DUAL-SIM-SIM-FREE-UNLOCKED-WHITE/332724479845)
      o Currently supports "Android One" (support guarantee for 2 years)
  * Square reader - $60 (at Officeworks)

Once the phone and reader have been purchased, they could then be 
configured using the Square app and it would be possible to start 
accepting card payments (ie. for events or dispense topups) straight 
away. Further integration with dispense would be possible using the 
Square APIs, this would require more time and experimentation but is 
something I intend to work on in the future.

Feedback is most welcome, with luck the necessary budgeting will be 
discussed at the next committee meeting.

- [FVP]

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au/pipermail/tech/attachments/20180909/cc549d1e/attachment.htm