India is considered a growing digital market, but as of this moment, you can’t really say that they’re one of the most advanced in terms of incorporating technology into their everyday lives. But this latest product from Samsung may be one step towards that as the OEM has announced the Galaxy Tab Iris, a mobile device that has iris-recognition technology and is also ready for Aadhar authentication so that it can be used for various transactions with government services, banking, education, taxation, and even passports.
For those not familiar, Aadhar is a 12-digit individual identification number that issued by the Government of India through the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). Having an “integrated and highly secure biometric device” will do wonders towards creating a truly Digital India, a vision that the government has, which will include access to financial inclusion benefits for their citizens. Institutions, both private and government, now would not need to purchase a separate biometric device to authenticate people availing of their services.
The Galaxy Tab Iris has a 7” WSVGA display and is powered by a 1.2 GHz quad core processor. It has a 1.5GB RAM and 8GB internal storage which can be expanded up to 200GB through a microSD card. It has just a 5MP rear camera, but the main selling point of this device is of course the iris camera and subsystem. Obviously from the specs itself, it’s not a tablet that you’d want if you’re looking to play games or watch hi-res movies. But that’s not the target market of Samsung for this one.
It can be used to help institutions move away from the traditional authentication process and because it is UIDAI compliant, it can be used for such things as child enrollment program for the Aadhar, bank account integration, accessing citizen services like pensions, income tax filing, passport issuance, etc. It costs INR 13,499 or around $200.
SOURCE: Samsung
