Even thousands of beta devices will miss finding that flaw discovered when millions of devices get into the end-consumers hands. There's been several stories on AI in just the the past few months about various bugs/problems in Apple software or products that some members here will proclaim should have been caught in development.
As long as this Samsung one can be quickly addressed via an update rather than languishing as some bugs do it's really no different is it? (I'm probably no more Samsung fan than you are BTW)
Actually, beta testing will miss corner case which are unique to various user environment. however, this issue is not a corner case most people us a screen protector. You would hope Samsung testing team would have put a screen protector on and see how it perform, you would hope they also test with dirty screen and various use case.
I am not saying Apple is perfect, but Samsung has very poor track record on testing their hardware. We all seen their issue front and center which required a number of product recalls.
Samsung, LG and Google all have a habit of releasing something and shortly thereafter needing to roll out a fix for this or that and often something we think should have been caught in development.
Personally I don't expect the new Pixel 4's to be warmly received at release. Face unlock will need improving, Motion Sense will be more gimmick than useful, even the camera will benefit from a little update. It'll be hard to properly judge them until two months and a couple of updates in, and by that time the Pixel 4a's will be in the rumor mill.
We all have so little to really worry about anyway, few of us probably have to worry about where our heads will find a pillow tonight, that every little bothersome thing gets magnified into a world-shaking event. Heck, look no further than our own AI forums for proof of that.
Even thousands of beta devices will miss finding that flaw discovered when millions of devices get into the end-consumers hands. There's been several stories on AI in just the the past few months about various bugs/problems in Apple software or products that some members here will proclaim should have been caught in development.
As long as this Samsung one can be quickly addressed via an update rather than languishing as some bugs do it's really no different is it? (I'm probably no more Samsung fan than you are BTW)
Actually, beta testing will miss corner case which are unique to various user environment. however, this issue is not a corner case most people us a screen protector. You would hope Samsung testing team would have put a screen protector on and see how it perform, you would hope they also test with dirty screen and various use case.
I am not saying Apple is perfect, but Samsung has very poor track record on testing their hardware. We all seen their issue front and center which required a number of product recalls.
Samsung, LG and Google all have a habit of releasing something and shortly thereafter needing to roll out a fix for this or that and often something we think should have been caught in development.
Personally I don't expect the new Pixel 4's to be warmly received at release. Face unlock will need improving, Motion Sense will be more gimmick than useful, even the camera will benefit from a little update. It'll be hard to properly judge them until two months and a couple of updates in, and by that time the Pixel 4a's will be in the rumor mill.
We all have so little to really worry about anyway, few of us probably have to worry about where our heads will find a pillow tonight, that every little bothersome thing gets magnified into a world-shaking event. Heck, look no further than our own AI forums for proof of that.
As person who spent most of my career in product develop unlike most of the Monday morning quarterbacks in the tech media, Yes products get release that the developers wish they had more time to make it perfect. However the issue today is too many product teams are not hardware focus and come from the software development disciplines which they feel if they did not get it right the first time there is always the next software release to fix it. Well that is not true with hardware. Depending on the problem, it could mean a failed product or a costly recall of the product. Google is one of the company who has a very poor track record with hardware, they are too software centric, and think they can fix any problem with software. They also believe that software makes the product, and they can make any generic product into a great product with software features.
I am literally laughing out loud right now. This is a security breach and "fail" of EPIC proportions. It may be the absolute worst vulnerability I have ever seen with a technology product. It would be like getting root access to your Mac by putting a piece of tape over the camera, or saying "bloody mary" three times to defeat voice recognition. The worse part is until Samsung can figure out a patch, ALL owners of the devices are vulnerable. Any person with malicious intent can buy a gel protector and grab the phone. It sounds like it's almost guaranteed to unlock. And why wouldn't it? You're going to put your finger over the fingerprint area, ESPECIALLY if you don't have protector.
Good lord.
I don't think they we have a enough information on this to say how EPIC the Fail is. At the moment, it could be anywhere between a fail the size of a mountain, and a fail that spans galaxies.
Does it work with all screen protectors, or just the one that the lady in question happened to buy? If it falls flat with every screen protector then the Fail is so big then the light from its centre will take generations to reach Earth. If it falls over with a handful then the Fail is much smaller. I wouldn't expect Samsung to be able to test all of them. However, if Samsung knew that it broke with a few protectors and crossed its fingers, then it would take some sort of Star Trek type device to cross the Fail within the planet's lifetime.
If they can genuinely fix it in software then it's probably just a bug.
Fails with a good number. Our sources have now tested 15 different brands, and got it to fail with 11 of them.
Mike, can you confirm that the unlock occurs with a finger registered before application of the screen protection? This would make Samsung’s statement that they recommend not using a third-party screen protector pretty disingenuous since the issue would be an attacker applying the protector not the owner.
I’m seeing a lot of argument on other sites about whether it only works with a finger registered with the screen protector already applied.
It does work with a finger registered before application of the screen protector. So, yes, an attacker can apply a protector, and you're hosed.
Comments
Personally I don't expect the new Pixel 4's to be warmly received at release. Face unlock will need improving, Motion Sense will be more gimmick than useful, even the camera will benefit from a little update. It'll be hard to properly judge them until two months and a couple of updates in, and by that time the Pixel 4a's will be in the rumor mill.
We all have so little to really worry about anyway, few of us probably have to worry about where our heads will find a pillow tonight, that every little bothersome thing gets magnified into a world-shaking event. Heck, look no further than our own AI forums for proof of that.