Video pits iPhone 5s Touch ID against Samsung's Galaxy S5 fingerprint scanner

Posted:
in iPhone edited May 2014
As Samsung's new flagship Galaxy S5 nears official release, videos and "first looks" are popping up across the Web, the latest of which pits the handset's swipe-style fingerprint reader against Apple's Touch ID.

Samsung


For a short five-minute video, uploaded to YouTube by iCrackUriDevice, the clip offers a fairly in-depth comparison of the two companies' approaches to fingerprint recognition.

Whereas Apple's Touch ID system has been discussed at length (and even detailed by Apple in a technology white paper), Samsung's entry is largely untested. From the footage released today, however, it appears that Samsung's Galaxy S5 uses a moderately enhanced swipe-style reader.

Both systems are embedded in the home button and both serve as an easier way to secure a smartphone, but that's where the similarities end.

Apple's Touch ID employs a proprietary sensor, the rights to which were acquired as part of a $356 million purchase of fingerprint hardware and software specialist AuthenTec. The one-touch system allows users to simply place their finger on an iPhone 5s' home button for scanning in any orientation.



Samsung's scanner, on the other hand, requires a bit more finesse as anything but a full uni-directional finger swipe isn't good enough for recognition. As noted in the video, this method also inhibits one-handed operation and those with smaller fingers may be limited to the digits they can register due to the sensor's size.

While a clear "winner" was not decided, the overall tone of the video seemed to be in favor of Touch ID in terms of usability. Samsung does, however, include a few tricks not yet available on the iPhone, the most prominent being payments integration with PayPal.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 89
    Either I've got one seriously unusual set of thumbs or TouchID is a 99% marketing.

    I'm on my fourth iPhone 5S and I still can't get TouchID to recognize one of my thumbs for more than a day. Works great right after training, requires multiple attempts a few hours later, won't work no matter what the next day, if not earlier.

    The only thing TouchID is good for IMHO is making Siri seem to suck less.
  • Reply 2 of 89
    jakebjakeb Posts: 562member
    I think you've got unusual thumbs. I use TouchId all the time and it works 99% of the time on the first try.
  • Reply 3 of 89
    I want you to scan your thumb and after its registered try opening it with your unregistered fingers.
    Bet it unlocks.....%uFEFF
  • Reply 4 of 89

    "I love Apple, but…."

  • Reply 5 of 89
    sennensennen Posts: 1,472member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jakeb View Post



    I think you've got unusual thumbs. I use TouchId all the time and it works 99% of the time on the first try.

     

    I agree, must be unusual thumbs. No problems whatsoever for my wife or I.

  • Reply 6 of 89
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post



    While a clear "winner" was not decided, the overall tone of the video seemed to be in favor of Touch ID in terms of usability. Samsung does, however, include a few tricks not yet available on the iPhone, the most prominent being payments integration with PayPal.

     

    It's important to never declare the iPhone the winner, if you want to maintain "street cred" with the spec chasers who proclaim Apple's 64-bit is a gimmick.

  • Reply 7 of 89
    muadibemuadibe Posts: 134member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by thismarty View Post



    Either I've got one seriously unusual set of thumbs or TouchID is a 99% marketing.



    I'm on my fourth iPhone 5S and I still can't get TouchID to recognize one of my thumbs for more than a day. Works great right after training, requires multiple attempts a few hours later, won't work no matter what the next day, if not earlier.



    The only thing TouchID is good for IMHO is making Siri seem to suck less.

    Either your thumbs are a total mess, or you are just here to bash Apple.  Your 4th 5S...really?

  • Reply 8 of 89
    Try another finger you have a total of 10
  • Reply 9 of 89
    boltsfan17boltsfan17 Posts: 2,294member

    I've never had an issue using Touch ID. I think it works really well. 

  • Reply 10 of 89
    togantogan Posts: 16member
    7.1 cleared all the problems I had with my thumb. For some reason my fingers worked but my thumb was out of the question two days later. Faster and perfect reads now. Have you updated your 4th 5s :/
  • Reply 11 of 89
    constable odoconstable odo Posts: 1,041member

    It was claimed that the Motorola Atrix fingerprint reader worked OK for a while.  The main problem was sensor wear and over time the reader become less and less reliable.  Apple sapphire laminate layer is nearly as hard and wear resistant as diamond so it should, in theory, be reliable over a few years.  I don't know what substance the Atrix used but apparently it wasn't wear resistant over even hundreds of uses.  I'm sure Samsung must have run simulations or tests to make sure the S5 sensor worked longer than the Atrix sensor did although it would seem there would be more wear and tear to a swipe type of sensor than a read in-place sensor.  I'm merely guessing since only time testing would prove me right or wrong.  If Samsung uses something similar to Gorilla Glass, I'm sure the sensor will be reliable for at least two years usage.  Samsung wouldn't be the leading manufacturer by making stupid mistakes like Motorola did.  One thing I'm thinking that if Apple's Touch ID sensor cost $5.00 then Samsung's sensor probably cost $.50.  Samsung isn't going to build a sensor to last forever like Apple would.  It only needs to last long enough for the probable usable lifetime of the device.

  • Reply 12 of 89
    michael scripmichael scrip Posts: 1,916member
    Samsung might have gotten points for having a fingerprint scanner... but they certainly won't get points for having a [I]bad[/I] fingerprint scanner.

    It looks like they were just trying to check off boxes on a spec sheet. Swing and a miss...
  • Reply 13 of 89
    kupuakupua Posts: 10member
    I am so interested in trying this for my self.
  • Reply 14 of 89
    kupuakupua Posts: 10member

    I so want to try this out for my self.

  • Reply 15 of 89
    nagrommenagromme Posts: 2,834member
    Something weird going on in that video. It seems to show Apple's lock-screen camera function working exactly the same (right down to the same icon in the same place) on the Samsung. Odd.
  • Reply 16 of 89
    tastowetastowe Posts: 108member
    The samsung are cheater again by copy the lock screen with camera at the right corner from iPhone lock screen
  • Reply 17 of 89
    snovasnova Posts: 1,281member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by thismarty View Post



    Either I've got one seriously unusual set of thumbs or TouchID is a 99% marketing.



    I'm on my fourth iPhone 5S and I still can't get TouchID to recognize one of my thumbs for more than a day. Works great right after training, requires multiple attempts a few hours later, won't work no matter what the next day, if not earlier.



    The only thing TouchID is good for IMHO is making Siri seem to suck less.

    I had a problem when I was using a case which had a raised lip around that outside that prevented me from making full contact with my thumb at the bottom of the sensor.   Replace my case with a different design and it works very well now. 

  • Reply 18 of 89
    davendaven Posts: 696member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by thismarty View Post



    Either I've got one seriously unusual set of thumbs or TouchID is a 99% marketing.

     

     

    I'd lend my thumbs to you but then you would be able to unlock my phone on the first try 99% of the time.

  • Reply 19 of 89
    "When the fingerprint scanner on the S5 works it works great, but..."

    Could have stopped the video there. That looked painful to do on the S5 and he listed a sequence of caveats to it not working that great but said it works great. Yeah, but no. And you have to actually touch the *screen* to start the process? Strange implementation all around.

    FYI: that S5 looks [B][U]huge[/U][/B].
  • Reply 20 of 89
    patsupatsu Posts: 430member
    I had some issues with 7.0 TouchID.

    iOS7.1 Touch ID has been perfect so far. ^_^
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