With Android pay its only 3 movements - take out of pocket, power on display, and touch… apple pay is the same power on, touch id, and touch… so not that much extra really…
Its a useful tech to have but wont replace cards, as only certain banks are supported on all these mobile platforms and only certain cards …
I’ll be sticking with Monzo. I have much more of an affinity with the brand and personally, having seen a lot of the team behind Monzo from their posts and updates, I have total faith in them to continue doing great things in the long term.
On android you only have to wake the device, that’s the same movement as getting it out if you hit the button on the way. You don’t need the app open, as long as the device is awake it works.
If you want to spend more than £30 you do have to unlock, but you still don’t need to open the android pay app.
So for standard contactless amounts it’s really a single action to pay.
I’ll be sticking with Monzo, it’s been great so far and shall undoubtedly be better than the offerings from legacy banks. In terms of Starling, I’m incredibly glad they exist. Competiton between the two will likely be fierce, but that shall only drive innovation from both so all we can do as customers is gain
My only issue is that when I go out for a few beers, I can take my £600 smartphone so I can use Android/Apple pay, or take my 10p piece of plastic And if by some chance I lose it it’s no huge deal. Or if I go running, I can pop my card in my pocket, but my iPhone 6 is a bit too large and cumbersome for this.
Still choice is good, but it’s not for me, too old school I guess!!
I’d always have my phone anyway tbh. But as you say, it’s nice to have the choice.
I would always take my card out but often leave phone at home or work on charge part way thru the day. It won’t last a full day from 08.00 - 02.00 so have to recharge it lunchtime and overnight. But looking on the bright side my Samsung is not one of those with an exploding battery 
IniPhones you just double tap home button, that’s all.
Double tapping the home button in lock screen opens the wallet and since you’ve touched the fingerprint sensor it requires nothing more to pay. Same for Apple Watch, you just push the oblong button twice while your wrist is next to the sensor.
Don’t think I’ll switch to Starling unless their app/bank is really so much better. I’ve been happy with the service from Monzo and the lack of Android Pay is not a game changer for me at the moment.
As an OAP early adopter I’m used to the fight between suppliers that takes place when technology changes. Anticipate dropping one of my legacy accounts once Monzo becomes a full bank.
I think this android / Apple pay thing is a bit of a red herring tbh. I want it, but it’s on the roadmap so it’ll happen eventually.
Can’t say I’m really missing Apple Pay that much for now (though I look forward to its arrival), but just to clarify, you don’t have to wake your phone - it automatically detects the NFC card reader and activates Apple Pay even when the screen is off 
I carry a portable charger like most so not a problem for me.
The thread’s gone a little off topic. It’s turned into another Apple Pay thread.
However, results of the poll currently show only 21% of current Monzo users are interested in joining Starling which I find kinda surprising. I figured more people would be interested in trying other fintech products.
Honestly, when you look at the design of the app (although we’ve only seen one screenshot 
), the approach that Monzo’s taken - open, collaborative, tone in social media, the community & especially in blog post’s vs Starling’s - the fact that most of the core Monzo team left Starling to found Monzo (& are doing a great job so far IMO), I’m just not excited about joining Starling.
Tom (& Jonas) are much more radical when they talk about what the bank of the future should look like & I believe that they share my mindset more than Starling who sound a lot more cautious.
There was a pretty funny moment during this talk (at 22:10) by Tom when Starling’s CTO praised the legacy bank’s “hugely reliable” mainframe systems, while Monzo doesn’t use mainframes, Tom’s reaction was great 
Maybe they’ll come up with a killer feature that’ll attract a lot of attention but by being so secretive, I think they’ve given Monzo a head start so far.
At the moment, all we can really use to compare the two services is the approach. I expect both bank’s apps will eventually get to feature parity (unless Monzo’s microservices approach enables much more rapid innovation) but it will be the bank’s success at building an API, technology stack, operations teams, marketplace etc. that will ultimately make the difference.
I found the fact they were not open and were very secretive about everything just gave me the impression they will be just like all the historic big banks but without the branch network
Exactly this!
I’m financial noob, I’m not sure I’ve even know ‘fintech’ as a phrase before stumbling upon Monzo (I was researching cards useful when travelling). I feel good here. I even write on forums, which is freaking rare and last time it happend it was on The Secret World game forums.
And people are liking my posts, that makes me want to write even more. 
Just… too friendly! 
I will keep an eye on all competitors, because IF they offer a product I need (dat monthly ATM limits I need lifted once a full bank!), I might temporarily use different bank. But I don’t see anything around that would make me ditch Monzo.
I’d leave my current bank in a heartbeat for Monzo if I could. Metro Bank never wowed me like I was lead to believe and was hyped to me by friends.
I’m happy using Monzo and I love how open the company is with their product. Starling aren’t open at all and the USP for me with Monzo is that they listen to the community and have greater technical control because Monzo built the Monzo back end.
I’ll look over their website to see what Starling do out of curiosity and use Metro’s long promised new app in the meantime. Although after being promised to be released soon over six months ago I’ve lost all hope. 
I’ll maybe give it a go.
Would be good to dump the regular bank for a smarter one regardless.
Apple Pay, full financial protection, notifications, real time and dd & standing orders. I’ll happily look at whoever provides that functionality.
Although both names are equally s**t. Monzo sounds like Gonzo and starling just sounds lame - like they called it after a bird? The logo is a total rip off of switch too.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they both ended up as one in future anyway or likely as part of one of the bigger groups.
I stopped using mondo a lot when the app kept logging me out of everything.
Here’s some good news 