Items tagged with fingerprint sensor
Using a screen protector is a common way to help prevent smartphone displays from getting scratched, scuffed, or even shattered. On the Galaxy S10 series, however, it's been discovered that a screen protector can inadvertently prevent the in-display fingerprint sensor from working correctly. The issue was brought to light by Lisa and Wes Neilson, a couple living in the UK. Lisa had purchased an inexpensive screen protector on eBay, applied it to her Galaxy S10, and set up the phone to unlock using her right thumb. But after do so, Wes found he was also able to unlock her phone with either of his thumbs, even though he never registered a fingerprint on the phone. "This means that if anyone got...
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Biometric security measures are improving all the time, though they are not infallible. This is demonstrated on the recently launched OnePlus 7 Pro. It has a fingerprint sensor that is embedded in the full-front display, and with a little bit of glue and a few minutes of time, it can be easily thwarted. Well, sort of. The process itself is rather simple. It basically entails creating a rudimentary mold of a fingerprint using aluminum foil, a dab of hot glue, and a little bit of Elmer's glue. It's a cheap hack, in other words, albeit an effective one on the OnePlus 7 Pro. Incidentally, the same method was proven to work on the previous generation OnePlus 6T. YouTube channel Max Tech demonstrated...
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One of the hallmark features of Samsung’s new Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10+and Galaxy S10 5Gsmartphones are their use of in-display ultrasonic fingerprint readers. These newfangled sensors replace the tried and true optical fingerprint sensors that have been positioned on the backs of Samsung flagships for the past few generations. While Samsung touts the ease-of-use and security of this newest biometric authentication system, one person was able to defeat the system with an admittedly relatively laborious workaround. A researcher who goes by darkshark9 was able to trick the Galaxy S10’s ultrasonic fingerprint sensor with a well thought out facsimile. Before we go further,...
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There are a couple of challenges facing smartphone designers at the moment. One is the notch at the top of the display, a concept introduced by Andy Rubin and his Essential Phone, and later popularized by Apple and its iPhone X. The other being able to embed a fingerprint sensor into the display itself. It looks like Samsung is working to tackle both challenges. Samsung is not a fan of the notch, a concept it's repeatedly mocked at the expense of Apple. That's why the company's Galaxy S9 and Galaxy Note 9—it's two most recent flagship handsets—emerged with a full-length border across the top. However, Samsung is definitely interested in offering a truly bezel-free phone. Great news!...
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It looks as though Samsung is finally getting fancy with the fingerprint sensor on its upcoming Galaxy S10 smartphone. A well known tipster quotes Samsung's mobile chief DJ Koh as saying the Galaxy S10 will not use an optical fingerprinting solution because the user experience is not where it should be, and instead will use a better screen fingerprinting solution. DJ Koh said that the Galaxy S10 does not use an optical fingerprinting solution because optical fingerprinting can cause a bad user experience. Otherwise, Samsung could adopt it two years ago. We will bring a better screen fingerprinting experience for S10. — Ice universe (@UniverseIce) July 16, 2018 The Galaxy Note 9 is not expected...
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If you have an older ThinkPad, ThinkCentre or ThinkStation PC with an integrated fingerprint reader, you might want to download Lenovo's latest software update. The company has acknowledged that a flaw in its Fingerprint Management Pro software could allow a malicious actor with physical access to your device login with a hard-coded password, bypassing the fingerprint reader. Lenovo says that the flaw affects Lenovo machines running Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1. "Sensitive data stored by Lenovo Fingerprint Manager Pro, including users’ Windows logon credentials and fingerprint data, is encrypted using a weak algorithm, contains a hard-coded password, and is accessible to all users...
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Sing it with us now—'Vivoooo Las Vegas!' Wait, that doesn't sound right. However, Vivo is a name to pay attention to, assuming you are not already familiar with the Chinese brand. That's because Vivo just unveiled the world's first smartphone to sport a fingerprint sensor embedded into the display. No small feat, that is something that both Apple and Samsung having been working to achieve. In fact, it was largely assumed that Apple or Samsung would be the first to embed a fingerprint scanner into the display, rather than having it be part of a home button or on a dedicated spot on the back of the device. However, getting to that point has perhaps proven more difficult that either company...
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When it comes to flagship smartphones, the new trend seems to be near bezel-less edge-to-edge displays. The Samsung Galaxy S8 is probably the best example of this, and the upcoming Galaxy Note 8 is expected to feature a similar design. Since there is little room on the front of the display to house a dedicated home button with an integrated fingerprint sensor on these new designs, Qualcomm is pushing its new solution which can be embedded within a display, metal or glass. For smartphone applications, these new ultrasonic-based fingerprint sensors can scan through an OLED display stack up to 1.2mm thick. In addition to being able to detect a heartbeat and blood flow (to improve the accuracy...
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We hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you were hoping that Samsung would figure out a way to embed a fingerprint sensor into the display of its forthcoming Galaxy Note 8 phablet, word on the web is that it is not going to happen. The South Korean electronics maker just cannot seem to figure out a way to make it work consistently, it appears.An embedded fingerprint sensor is something that many people hoped would debut on Samsung's flagship Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ handsets. That did not happen, as Samsung had trouble getting it to work properly in time to start mass producing the new phones, so it was scratched from the list of finalized features.Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+With Samsung...
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Do you love the idea of a fingerprint sensor, but feel like the button that enables this functionality ruins your phone aesthetic? Synaptics has a solution for you. The San Jose, California-based corporation is releasing the FS9100, an optical fingerprint sensor that enables a button-free design. According to Les Santiago, Research Director for IDC, “By bringing optical sensing technology with the right form factor and power consumption envelope to smartphones and tablets, Synaptics is enabling the elimination of the home button which is a critical next step to full top-to-bottom, edge-to-edge smartphone and tablet displays.”Natural ID FS9100 optical fingerprint sensors feature Synaptics’ SentryPoint...
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When Apple launched the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus last month, it took away the physical Home button, instead leaving behind a fixed panel with haptic feedback to simulate a button press. Future iPhones may ditch this vestigial Home button altogether (and with it, traditional Touch ID) to allow for a more advanced way to read your fingerprint. According to a new Apple patent, the company is working on a way to read your fingerprint through a mobile device’s display. Apple has taken plenty of flak over the years for the huge bezels on its smartphones, and the company acknowledges in the patent that integrated Touch ID into the display, "not the least of which is an interest in avoiding assigning...
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Future LG smartphones, and smartphones the use display panels produced by the South Korean electronics giant, could soon do away with fingerprint sensors that are embedded in home buttons on many of today’s top flagship devices. Components subsidiary LG Innotek has created a new fingerprint sensor that can be embedded underneath a smartphone’s (or tablet’s) display panel. LG was able to achieve impressive results with its fingerprint sensor, which is mounted in a 0.3mm “shallow furrow” cut onto the backside of a smartphone’s display glass. Given its “hidden” location, the sensor is not exposed to the elements protecting it from scratches and potential water damage. The sensor is also highly accurate,...
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