If a mass market consumer device can authenticate a person by dna or fingerprint, well to put it broadly, there will be a lot of negative attention drawn to the possibility that "a hacker could potentially steal your phone and hence steal your DNA or fingerprint since it's stored on the device".
Touch screens used by Apple are of extremely high precision. It's feasible.
I'm sure they're pretty good, but I doubt the current models are nearly that high in precision. That would be a lot of data to process if it could actually read that level of resolution. I think there's a good reason why Apple is thinking of putting that sensor in a specific spot of the screen.
The article mentions DNA testing, I don't think it is anywhere near fast enough or small enough to be put into a phone for several years, maybe decades. I know it keeps getting better, but the process is still in the equivalent of the mainframe era in computers, I doubt it would be a tiny, fast and power efficient module.
Great idea for those that need the extra security, but there are a number of situations where I would want anyone/everyone to be able to use my phone.
Example: Emergencies
I'm guessing they would make an emergency button so the phone could call 911?
The iPhone already has that feature. When you turn it on with the password protection enabled, there is a button called emergency that takes you directly to the phone dial interface.
Face recognition and fingerprinting is a lame idea. I am sure face recognition would confuse twins or similar looking family members. Fingerprinting isn't all that accurate. Those devices already exist. I took a national test and the test center had the fingerprint pad on the computer to verify my identity. Before the test, I put my finger on the pad so the computer could take an imprint of it. After the test, I had to place my finger on the pad to re-verify that it was still me that took the test. I had to put my finger on the pad 3 or 4 times before it would figure out that it was my print. They said, keep trying the computer will eventually get it.
Since the iPhone is already a touchscreen, it gets fingerprints all over it, so the biometric feature would only work if you cleaned the screen every time you wanted to use the phone. Not very convenient.
The iPhone already has that feature. When you turn it on with the password protection enabled, there is a button called emergency that takes you directly to the phone dial interface.
You're right in a sense, but I am certain he wasn't talking about what you're talking about. To see what he's talking about, you need to run the battery down dead cold and and start the charging from there. You get a different screen, it's gray and I think there is a lightning bolt or some other symbol, the battery needs to get charged to a certain level before the regular iPhone OS will even bother booting, even if it's charging and might have ample power through the cord.
I don't want a feature that identifies me, because then someone will steal (bits of) me plus the mac/iphone. We already see this with car theft where the driver becomes the victim because cars are so hard to break into these days. I want the device to identify the thief, so he gets arrested, and the phone becomes famous as the one not to steal. It's a deterrent. I don't want a feature that works after I've been stabbed/mugged/robbed !
I'm sure they're pretty good, but I doubt the current models are nearly that high in precision.
Truly speaking, they (actual screens) are now 10+ times worse, than needed, to be fingerprint sensors for traditional professional use. 500 ppi needed, iPhone projective capacitive touch screen touchpoint density is >1 per 1mm2 ~ 50 ppi at best, I believe. Yet,
projected capacitive touch screens have reached the resolution of 4096x4096 while 1024x2048 should be OK for iPhone;
specialized processing algorithms may help. And probably would.
It isn't supposed to be fingerprint detector, it's a phone, which recognizes only one fingerprint pattern (possibly moving across the screen).
Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffDM
That would be a lot of data to process if it could actually read that level of resolution. I think there's a good reason why Apple is thinking of putting that sensor in a specific spot of the screen.
There's sure the reason. Current guidelines state the UI element should be 40px by 40px to be reliably targeted by a finger on a 320x480 screen. I'd say 128px x 256px professional quality sensor would do perfectly. Grayscale. Feasible.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffDM
The article mentions DNA testing, I don't think it is anywhere near fast enough or small enough to be put into a phone for several years, maybe decades I know it keeps getting better, but the process is still in the equivalent of the mainframe era in computers, I doubt it would be a tiny, fast and power efficient module.
So do I. Right now it's damn expensive and slow even in a specialized lab.
This is an ingenious move for the iPhone. We've been looking at various fingerprint scanners for our business and came across this article. We've already implemented fingerprint scanners for our employees workstations and timeclocks. This should be a simple integration.
Comments
If a mass market consumer device can authenticate a person by dna or fingerprint, well to put it broadly, there will be a lot of negative attention drawn to the possibility that "a hacker could potentially steal your phone and hence steal your DNA or fingerprint since it's stored on the device".
Touch screens used by Apple are of extremely high precision. It's feasible.
I'm sure they're pretty good, but I doubt the current models are nearly that high in precision. That would be a lot of data to process if it could actually read that level of resolution. I think there's a good reason why Apple is thinking of putting that sensor in a specific spot of the screen.
The article mentions DNA testing, I don't think it is anywhere near fast enough or small enough to be put into a phone for several years, maybe decades. I know it keeps getting better, but the process is still in the equivalent of the mainframe era in computers, I doubt it would be a tiny, fast and power efficient module.
Great idea for those that need the extra security, but there are a number of situations where I would want anyone/everyone to be able to use my phone.
Example: Emergencies
I'm guessing they would make an emergency button so the phone could call 911?
Presumably if the fingerprint scanner detects it's not you operating the Slide to Unlock thingie then that's all you'd be able to do.
Great idea for those that need the extra security, but there are a number of situations where I would want anyone/everyone to be able to use my phone.
Example: Emergencies
I'm guessing they would make an emergency button so the phone could call 911?
The iPhone already has that feature. When you turn it on with the password protection enabled, there is a button called emergency that takes you directly to the phone dial interface.
Face recognition and fingerprinting is a lame idea. I am sure face recognition would confuse twins or similar looking family members. Fingerprinting isn't all that accurate. Those devices already exist. I took a national test and the test center had the fingerprint pad on the computer to verify my identity. Before the test, I put my finger on the pad so the computer could take an imprint of it. After the test, I had to place my finger on the pad to re-verify that it was still me that took the test. I had to put my finger on the pad 3 or 4 times before it would figure out that it was my print. They said, keep trying the computer will eventually get it.
Since the iPhone is already a touchscreen, it gets fingerprints all over it, so the biometric feature would only work if you cleaned the screen every time you wanted to use the phone. Not very convenient.
The iPhone already has that feature. When you turn it on with the password protection enabled, there is a button called emergency that takes you directly to the phone dial interface.
You're right in a sense, but I am certain he wasn't talking about what you're talking about. To see what he's talking about, you need to run the battery down dead cold and and start the charging from there. You get a different screen, it's gray and I think there is a lightning bolt or some other symbol, the battery needs to get charged to a certain level before the regular iPhone OS will even bother booting, even if it's charging and might have ample power through the cord.
I'm sure they're pretty good, but I doubt the current models are nearly that high in precision.
Truly speaking, they (actual screens) are now 10+ times worse, than needed, to be fingerprint sensors for traditional professional use. 500 ppi needed, iPhone projective capacitive touch screen touchpoint density is >1 per 1mm2 ~ 50 ppi at best, I believe. Yet,
- projected capacitive touch screens have reached the resolution of 4096x4096 while 1024x2048 should be OK for iPhone;
- specialized processing algorithms may help. And probably would.
It isn't supposed to be fingerprint detector, it's a phone, which recognizes only one fingerprint pattern (possibly moving across the screen).That would be a lot of data to process if it could actually read that level of resolution. I think there's a good reason why Apple is thinking of putting that sensor in a specific spot of the screen.
There's sure the reason. Current guidelines state the UI element should be 40px by 40px to be reliably targeted by a finger on a 320x480 screen. I'd say 128px x 256px professional quality sensor would do perfectly. Grayscale. Feasible.
The article mentions DNA testing, I don't think it is anywhere near fast enough or small enough to be put into a phone for several years, maybe decades I know it keeps getting better, but the process is still in the equivalent of the mainframe era in computers, I doubt it would be a tiny, fast and power efficient module.
So do I. Right now it's damn expensive and slow even in a specialized lab.
Love this technology.