This is the correct way to use a fingerprint scanner: As a second, added, method of authentication. Never use it as the only method of authentication. It's too easy to fake fingerprints.
Apple has (rumored) added the ability to tell if the fingerprint is from a living being, versus just a plastic molded fake.
Will Samsung get it right? It's hard to tell from this report. But I seriously doubt it. Watch Samsung allow a fingerprint scan as a sole method of authentication, totally blowing the concept of two-factor authentication. But occasionally they get things right. We shall see.
Oh and their 'amazing feature'? I'm betting on it bringing up a picture of the person (real or fake) providing the fingerprint. Whoopee Wow zzzzzzzzz
The key "feature" will be reliability. To date fingerprint sensors have been notoriously unreliable. Andy Ihnatko has been hammering away on this point on the MacBreak Weekly podcast. It has to always work on the first swipe and it has to be completely reliable. If not, most people will simply turn the feature off after a few tries. Who can be bothered swiping their finger two or three times to unlock their phone. If Apple has this truly nailed then it could be huge. If not then it will just be another tech spec that goes ignored and unused.
It is not a feature war, it is all about how it gets implemented. How transparent it is. I guess Samsung will put a fingerprint reader like the ones we get in some laptops. From the rumors we assume Apple will place it in the home button. On the software side I hope this introduces the option to have personalized icon layouts for different users of a device and encryption.
Motorola beat them both, so I suspect Apple won't care if they were first or if Samsung says they were first. Apple didn't have the first touchscreen phone or first tablet ether.
What will matter is: Who is best? Anyone care to wager that the makers of the "Don't have to touch the screen the use it touchscreen" and "S-Voice" can possibly implement something better than Apple?
Supposedly the problem with current sensors is that in order to be accurate, the design imposed some degree of fragility as a result. Samsung's sensor may work, even as well as Apple's, in the short term, and thus it may take some wind out of Apple's sails (though not necessarily their sales), as reports of its unreliability won't be seen until sometime after both products launch.
Actually we do. Authentec is no longer licensing it's tech, and the only devices out there that still use it are using the old tech, not the new stuff that Apple is presumably about to announce.
Word in the industry is that Authentec is/was the best, and supposedly their new stuff (the stuff that Apple bought) makes their old stuff look bad by comparison. Therefore it would seem likely that Samsungs scanner, whatever it is, will be less capable, less reliable and less easy to use than Apple's, either by a little, or by a lot. We shall soon see in any case.
Didn't we have a "weekend editorial" here a couple weeks back that said Samsung and others wouldn't be able to add fingerprint scanning because of the way Apple had locked things up? IF Samsung really is including it I won't be surprised if it's simply a "me too" add-on that won't be any more useful that their silly eye-tracking.
Samsung just might be releasing their fingerprint technology just to "say" they are first, whether their feature is good or not. They market themselves so well, it's not necessarily who has the best, but who markets themselves better to the masses. Samsung has done that very well.
Didn't we have a "weekend editorial" here a couple weeks back that said Samsung and others wouldn't be able to add fingerprint scanning because of the way Apple had locked things up? IF Samsung really is including it I won't be surprised if it's simply a "me too" add-on that won't be any more useful that their silly eye-tracking.
It has been done before on smart phones (Motorola ATRIX) so nothing new whether Samsung or Apple does it. It all comes down to implementation and where it will take you in the future. Samsung is all show and Apple does things to do then right and make them useful long term.
You won't be surprised about Samsung's hype, that is for sure.
Samsung just might be releasing their fingerprint technology just to "say" they are first, whether their feature is good or not. They market themselves so well, it's not necessarily who has the best, but who markets themselves better to the masses. Samsung has done that very well.
If by better you mean constantly and everywhere, then yes
I'm quite sure Authentec is working on something big or else Apple wouldn't have dropped $350 million on them. Compare that to what Apple paid for PA Semi and Intrinsity (who are arguably responsible for the most important part of iOS devices, the A-Series processors).
However, we still don't know what their actually technology is. Meanwhile Validity's website talks about how they have the smallest and most accurate sensor but they don't say who or what they're comparing it to.
Well at the time Apple acquired them they had just announced a revolutionary new type of sensor that had two main qualities touted. One was the ability to detect whether the finger in question was "alive" (supposedly going around the old "cut off his finger and take it with you" trick), and the other was the ability to integrate the detector into a standard touchscreen so that you wouldn't have to use a prissy little chip or put your finger in any particular place on the side of the phone etc.
If rumours are correct, Apple hasn't availed itself of this later idea and is instead putting a silly little sensor in the home button, so we won't really know what kind of tech they are using or what version of Authentec's ideas they are using until it comes out. It's pretty much a lock that whatever it is, it's better than whatever Samsung is using, but beyond that we will have to wait a few weeks to find out.
I doubt it... Samsung could be the first to put a completely useless, easily by-passable fingerprint scanner in a mobile device - sure.
I sincerely doubt that they have mastered secure fingerprint scanning, as Apple likely has.
If anyone remembers, Mythbusters beat a plethora of scanners with simply a photocopy of a fingerprint... Just any fingerprint scanner won't do, I'm afraid.
The advance in technology might have to do with accuracy, but more importantly the scanners have a short shelf life dying early. Apple's advanced is rumored to increase the shelf life of the scanner.
While I read every rumor about what Apple is doing, I hate that these kind of leaks have allowed their competition to focus on beating them at whatever they are planning before they ever announce it. I hope the move more production to the US. The only device they have been able to keep quiet is the New Mac Pro.
This is the correct way to use a fingerprint scanner: As a second, added, method of authentication. Never use it as the only method of authentication. It's too easy to fake fingerprints.
Apple has (rumored) added the ability to tell if the fingerprint is from a living being, versus just a plastic molded fake.
It's pretty well documented how Authentec's technology is purported to work. It's hard to fake a 3D fingerprint.
Agreed the fingerprint should be part of the authentication
1) The device Identifier should be paired with the AppleID, and should have a password to marry the 2
2) the fingerprint then verifies to the device that the person is who they say they are
3) the combo platter to external internet applications get Identity(device, password (app specific... from keychain), fingerprint)... if any 2 of the 3 don't match, then raise alerts.
The key item is that the iOS device becomes a token, that is smart enough to take 2 forms of authentication. It's hard not to miss your IOS device, and if it requires a fingerprint scan at the time of a fraudulent purpose... it's even harder not to miss your finger(s);-)
But, I am waiting for the first iPhone plus finger amputation theft.
Comments
Apple has (rumored) added the ability to tell if the fingerprint is from a living being, versus just a plastic molded fake.
Will Samsung get it right? It's hard to tell from this report. But I seriously doubt it. Watch Samsung allow a fingerprint scan as a sole method of authentication, totally blowing the concept of two-factor authentication. But occasionally they get things right. We shall see.
Oh and their 'amazing feature'? I'm betting on it bringing up a picture of the person (real or fake) providing the fingerprint. Whoopee Wow zzzzzzzzz
The key "feature" will be reliability. To date fingerprint sensors have been notoriously unreliable. Andy Ihnatko has been hammering away on this point on the MacBreak Weekly podcast. It has to always work on the first swipe and it has to be completely reliable. If not, most people will simply turn the feature off after a few tries. Who can be bothered swiping their finger two or three times to unlock their phone. If Apple has this truly nailed then it could be huge. If not then it will just be another tech spec that goes ignored and unused.
I suspect Samsuck didn't know what to do with its fingerprint tech until all the rumors started flying around
It is not a feature war, it is all about how it gets implemented. How transparent it is. I guess Samsung will put a fingerprint reader like the ones we get in some laptops. From the rumors we assume Apple will place it in the home button. On the software side I hope this introduces the option to have personalized icon layouts for different users of a device and encryption.
What will matter is: Who is best? Anyone care to wager that the makers of the "Don't have to touch the screen the use it touchscreen" and "S-Voice" can possibly implement something better than Apple?
Didn't we have a "weekend editorial" here a couple weeks back that said Samsung and others wouldn't be able to add fingerprint scanning because of the way Apple had locked things up? IF Samsung really is including it I won't be surprised if it's simply a "me too" add-on that won't be any more useful that their silly eye-tracking.
EDIT: This one
http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/08/07/apple-inc-gets-its-fingerprints-on-advanced-touch-sensor-appears-difficult-for-android-to-copy
Only difference between Samsung's fingerprint scanner and Apple's fingerprint scanner is that Apple's scanner will actually work.
Like iPhone antenna and maps?
Considering this is all still rumor, your trolling is unnecessary.
Didn't we have a "weekend editorial" here a couple weeks back that said Samsung and others wouldn't be able to add fingerprint scanning because of the way Apple had locked things up? IF Samsung really is including it I won't be surprised if it's simply a "me too" add-on that won't be any more useful that their silly eye-tracking.
EDIT: This one
http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/08/07/apple-inc-gets-its-fingerprints-on-advanced-touch-sensor-appears-difficult-for-android-to-copy
It has been done before on smart phones (Motorola ATRIX) so nothing new whether Samsung or Apple does it. It all comes down to implementation and where it will take you in the future. Samsung is all show and Apple does things to do then right and make them useful long term.
You won't be surprised about Samsung's hype, that is for sure.
Samsung just might be releasing their fingerprint technology just to "say" they are first, whether their feature is good or not. They market themselves so well, it's not necessarily who has the best, but who markets themselves better to the masses. Samsung has done that very well.
If by better you mean constantly and everywhere, then yes
I'm quite sure Authentec is working on something big or else Apple wouldn't have dropped $350 million on them. Compare that to what Apple paid for PA Semi and Intrinsity (who are arguably responsible for the most important part of iOS devices, the A-Series processors).
However, we still don't know what their actually technology is. Meanwhile Validity's website talks about how they have the smallest and most accurate sensor but they don't say who or what they're comparing it to.
Well at the time Apple acquired them they had just announced a revolutionary new type of sensor that had two main qualities touted. One was the ability to detect whether the finger in question was "alive" (supposedly going around the old "cut off his finger and take it with you" trick), and the other was the ability to integrate the detector into a standard touchscreen so that you wouldn't have to use a prissy little chip or put your finger in any particular place on the side of the phone etc.
If rumours are correct, Apple hasn't availed itself of this later idea and is instead putting a silly little sensor in the home button, so we won't really know what kind of tech they are using or what version of Authentec's ideas they are using until it comes out. It's pretty much a lock that whatever it is, it's better than whatever Samsung is using, but beyond that we will have to wait a few weeks to find out.
Nobody puts a Galaxy Note in their pocket.
My boss does, though he wears alot of cargo type pants.
From July...
http://www.ubergizmo.com/2013/07/samsung-reportedly-shelves-fingerprint-sensor-plans-for-galaxy-note-3/
The advance in technology might have to do with accuracy, but more importantly the scanners have a short shelf life dying early. Apple's advanced is rumored to increase the shelf life of the scanner.
So what if samesung releases a fingerprint sensor. It's not like finger print sensors have never been deployed on mobile devices before.
The idea that somehow Apple's success comes from being the only ones to implement a technology. When it's a brand new tech that Apple invented, yes.
But for fingerprint sensors?
Whose writing this site these days? "Boy Genius" report?
I was thinking about that article....
I guess we'll see what becomes of it later today
This is the correct way to use a fingerprint scanner: As a second, added, method of authentication. Never use it as the only method of authentication. It's too easy to fake fingerprints.
Apple has (rumored) added the ability to tell if the fingerprint is from a living being, versus just a plastic molded fake.
It's pretty well documented how Authentec's technology is purported to work. It's hard to fake a 3D fingerprint.
Agreed the fingerprint should be part of the authentication
1) The device Identifier should be paired with the AppleID, and should have a password to marry the 2
2) the fingerprint then verifies to the device that the person is who they say they are
3) the combo platter to external internet applications get Identity(device, password (app specific... from keychain), fingerprint)... if any 2 of the 3 don't match, then raise alerts.
The key item is that the iOS device becomes a token, that is smart enough to take 2 forms of authentication. It's hard not to miss your IOS device, and if it requires a fingerprint scan at the time of a fraudulent purpose... it's even harder not to miss your finger(s);-)
But, I am waiting for the first iPhone plus finger amputation theft.