Orange and Barclaycard have finally announced that the Samsung Wave 578 is coming with NFC capabilities, as Pocket-lint reported would happen back in February.

It's the second of the Quick Tap mobile phones to hit Orange, following the début of the service back in May with the Samsung Tocco Lite.

The system lets you make purchases of £15 and under with contactless readers now installed in over 50,000 stores nationwide, including cafés such as Pret A Manger, Eat and Subway.

Payments are made through an on-screen app, which must be preloaded with funds of up to £100, and contains information such as electronic statements detailing Quick Tap purchases so customers can keep an eye on their spending.

For the Wave 578 Barclaycard is providing Orange customers with £10 cash added to their account upon activation, and 10 per cent cash back on all Quick Tap purchases made in the first 90 days.

"Paying with a mobile phone means never being without the right change, and always having access to funds," said David Chan, CEO of Barclaycard Consumer Europe.

"That’s why I believe contactless mobile is the future of payments, and I’m keen it’s made available to as many of our customers as possible. At the launch of our first contactless handset earlier this year we promised we would roll out greater choice in the Quick Tap range and I’m pleased to be able to announce the first of these new handsets today."

The Samsung Wave 578 offers a 3.2-inch display, a 3.2-megapixel camera and packs HSDPA, Wi-Fi b/g/n and Bluetooth 3 technology. It measures 107.9 x 54.9 x 12.5mm and runs on Samsung's Bada platform

It will be available from Orange in the coming weeks on PAYG and free on select price plans.

Check out our Samsung Wave 578 hands-on