The first month of the year is about to end. This means February which is the time when the Mobile World Congress will open once again. Dozens of OEMs and brands will be unveiling new products but we’re expecting more smartphones with new technologies. One of the highly anticipated phones at the MWC is the Samsung Galaxy S9 which has been a favorite subject since last year. Much has been said about this premium flagship phone which will come with a Plus variant–the Galaxy S9+.
We’re certain the S9 will not have the embedded onscreen fingerprint sensor. It won’t be ready yet but we’re crossing our fingers it will be available in the Galaxy Note 9. We just know the next flagship will still have rear fingerprint plus improved facial and iris recognition technology.
Such biometrics security features have been available on the Galaxy S8. It’s not exactly perfect as it was compromised with a photo but the South Korean tech giant has been working to improve the tech and now we’ve got information it may even come with an intelligent scan feature that combines the iris scanner and face unlock.
It actually makes sense because Samsung is launching the new Android phone with a “camera reimagined” theme. Nothing has been confirmed yet but the S9 may already include the new isocell camera technology.
A recent APK teardown of the Oreo beta for Note 8 by an XDA dev revealed a new feature called the ‘Intelligent Scan’. As described, this feature “combines face and iris scanning to improve accuracy and security even in low or very bright light”. Biometrics should be good enough but it’s not always reliable. Iris scanning isn’t perfect yet but it has potential to become bigger. Facial unlock is relatively new as well so there are still more rooms for improvement for these technologies.
Here is an illustration of how the feature might work:
So there’s the usual unlocking of the phone similar to the iris scanner and facial recognition. We’re assuming Intelligent Scan will simply combine the two for enhanced security. We’re imagining it’s like a different two-step authentication where the phone will need to check not just one but two–a user’s iris and facial patterns at the same time.
Aside from the Intelligent Scan, Samsung may also introduce depth sensing stickers that will use the dual camera. This feature was also discovered recently by looking at the apps from the Note 8 Android Oreo build. It could be an addition to live focus. Weather-based stickers may also be available at launch. APK available HERE.
We’ll finally “see” and “secure” the information on February 25 at the next Samsung Unpacked event.
VIA: XDA, SamCentral
