No more excuses for running out of e-card credit

It’s a fair bet most readers here have an RFID wireless travel card of the Octopus/Suica/Oyster variety and plenty more are likely toting similar e-cash cards for broader use as well. 

These cards are clearly convenient to use, but how does one avoid that embarrassing problem of going to pay for a bento or to board a train only to be hit with that pesky "Insufficient Credit" warning?

Enter the Relet, a credit-card sized RFID/NFC reader from Japanese firm King Jim, which strives to help busy city folk keep on top of electronic funds.

The 21g gadget is pretty simple. Hit it up with a compatible card (Suica, Pasmo, Edy and more in Japan; FeliCa compatible otherwise) and its tiny LCD screen will reveal the balance.

After that, you’ll need to engage the gray matter to figure out whether or not a top-up is in order, but the concept is a sound one at heart and we always applaud innovation.

However, at ¥8,379 (US$90) for the device and another ¥6,825 (US$75) for a leather case (cheaper plastic cases are available), it seems unlikely that King Jim will ever move the 25,000 units it’s hoping for in the first year.

Worse still, cast your eyes across the water to Taiwan and you’ll spot a new kind of RFID card from SmartDisplayer that uses funky e-paper to actually build a screen right into a standard-thickness transport pass, e-cash card or credit card.

Had the Relet launched eight years ago and not just last month, we might have been a little more enthusiastic. Nevertheless, unless Oyster, Octopus and all the other RFID travel/cash cards decide to upgrade to SmartDisplayer's system, Relet still has a pretty decent customer base to target.