Time and Attendance applications of NFC are awesome!  The FloJack Mini will work well for a low cost solution.  Together with a Nexus 7 tablet you can setup a kiosk with front-facing scan surface.  At 32mm round, the FloJack Mini is finely tuned to match the NFC module on Nexus devices.  Together with the NFC Band-Aid you can extend the Mini as far as 3ft from the Nexus device.

To install you will need to remove the back cover of the Nexus and carefully stick the Band-Aid over the formal NFC pads (as shown here).  Once stuck in place, the Nexus NFC pins will push against the Band-Aid enabling the FloJack Mini as well as the native antenna.  No soldering or other invasive modifications are necessary.  Complete the installation by routing the Band-Aid cable down to the bottom connector.  We’ve found this to be the best place to exit the case without needing to modify it.

Carefully place the cover back on.  Make sure that the cable does not obstruct a tight assembly.  Next plug in the FloJack Mini and you should be able to read some tags.  The best read performance will be with any tag of similar size as FloJack Mini.  NFC Cards work as well, but you may need to find the sweet spot for a quick read.  If you’re not having any success, try rebooting the device.  If still nothing, check that native scan surface still works.  If still no luck, you may need to reopen the backplate to check your connections.  It shouldn’t take more than a couple tries to get this working.

Once everything is good you can mount it on a non-metallic surface.  If you need to mount on metal, then you’ll need to place this ferrite material in between FloJack Mini and the mounting surface.  An awesome set of mounting hardware is available from Armodilo.  Their products are well crafted and will stand the test of time.

For more robust and commercial grade deployments you may consider the Android tablets from Outform.  They are made endure enterprise use and come in a wide range of sizes.  Flomio custom built their NFC Add-on that will provide you with amazing read performance as well as magnetic stripe capability.  Contact us directly for more information about ordering.