News recently leaked about an upcoming physical Google Wallet Card, and it looks like these rumors were legit as Google’s own Wallet website has an “Eligible Devices” page that mentions the devices that can be used with the Google Wallet Card. Google also says that Android devices with an operating system of Android 2.3.3 or higher are able to download the Google Wallet app to use with the Google Wallet Card.
News first surfaced when an anonymous tip was sent to the Android Police blog with screenshots of the unreleased version of the Google Wallet Android application, which showed details of a “Google Wallet card.” It’s designed to be used wherever Google Wallet’s tap-and-play feature isn’t an option.
According to the screenshots, the Google Wallet Card will be a universal card that can take the place of any credit or debit card in your wallet. Instead of having to carry around a bunch of cards, you can load them all onto the Google Wallet online service and then use the physical Google Wallet card to make purchases with a swipe. The accompanying mobile Wallet application lets you configure which credit or debit cards your Google Wallet card will replace.
Although Google has already revealed it on its website, the company hasn’t actually made an official announcement of the Google Wallet Card and it’s not clear when this will happen. It’ll likely be soon though, if the Google Wallet page is any indication. The same tipster who sent the screenshots also said he received a confirmation email when he requested that a card be sent to him.
For those who are a little fuzzy on this, the Google Wallet Card is not the same as the Google Wallet Virtual Card because the Virtual Card only works with contactless payments.
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