Paypal is one of the most universally used online merchant service around. It offers a secure way to handle transactions, disputes, invoices and even the ability to print off shipping labels. Today the popular app for Android was updated to 3.0 and with it, some very impressive additions have been made. The biggest addition was support for NFC phones to request money from other NFC-enalbled phones.

Now if this all sounds alien to you, basically NFC stands for near field communication. You may be thinking, “Well that is what bluetooth does” and you will be correct, partly. NFC technology offers a much faster connection, and can encrypted over the short distance. While few phones have this technology built into them, there are a few on the market. There has been a push towards this technology from Google, Mastercard, and Visa, but its adoption has been slow. The NFC support in Paypal 3.0 can be enabled via a small widget, which when in proximity to another NFC-enabled Paypal widget using handset, you can request money, which will then be added to your Paypal account.

While this is the largest change in this update, there are also some changes in the overall user interface, which makes the use on smaller devices a little easier, and even now has “built-in tablet support”. Furthermore, the “Send Money” feature now allows you to categorize your transaction as well as select and save Paypal info to your contacts.

The change log from the Android Market reads:

New in 3.0

1. Updated design and enhanced experience
2. New widget: Request Money with NFC!
3. Improved support for tablets
4. Send Money redesign
5. Bug fixes
6. App now available in Brazil
7. Enhanced feature support for EU, APAC, and LATAM regions

If you are wanting to have this new, redesigned and powerful update, just head on over to the Market.