Android On A Mission To Make Sensitive Fingerprint Scanners Available For All Mid-Range Devices
Fingerprint scanners were once thought to be a feature for only high-end or premium Android devices. But it appears that is no longer the case.
The company is on a mission to roll out the useful security upgrade to as many users as possible by featuring them in mid-range devices too. This means getting your hands on it could be much easier than before.
The rollout comes in a variety of different styles including various sizes where the technology enables users to authenticate devices and unlock those on a timely and secure basis.
It can be put into the phone’s display or simply used as a physical button present external to the phone. On most occasions, every device has one variant of fingerprint scanning technology available that is set apart due to their price tags or their level of accuracy. Common examples include optical technology, capacitive scanners, and those making use of ultrasound technology.
The oldest of the lost are those using optical technology as they can capture fingerprints by clicking images and converting those into digital means for the sake of authentication. But the biggest disadvantage has to do with poor readings when your fingers are not clear or wet, not to mention the issue with spoofing arising routinely.
Meanwhile, capacitive sensors are much smaller in scale and more compact in nature without the worry of spoofing taking center stage. But they are also similarly capable of giving out poor readings that depend on what the finger’s condition could be.
Lastly, those using ultrasound scanning tend to be the latest of the three variations and are also more costly than other archrivals. They simply fit snuggly under phone displays and roll out ultrasonic pulses to fingers that bounce back inside sensors. The latter maps all the interactions it gets to produce 3D pictures and then compares them to those saved in the database to see if it’s a pass or a fail.
One more benefit related to this is linked to ultrasonic pulses penetrating things found on the surface like oil or moisture so that you get the most accurate result no matter what condition you might be in at the moment.
Right now, the only firm to be engaged in manufacturing scanning technology using ultrasound is Qualcomm. But they only arrive on flagship devices, thanks to high pricing. But we are seeing other names like Goodix take center stage in terms of giving the best solution to Vivo phones to enable this technology to get a wider reach for adoption in mobile tech.
The partnership with Vivo is a part of the first commercialization of its kind using ultrasonic fingerprint scanning technology so it’s a great milestone worth a mention.
Manufacturers do hope that such releases could pave the way for global adoption of this kind of technology and also give rise to more chances of bringing down the expenses of such sensors.
In the same way, Goodix hopes that such systems combined with simple changes to hardware designs could make it simpler for phone producers to combine it across various devices.
We think it’s all such an interesting approach and having ultrasonic sensors for authentication could be a great way to ensure users get the most from new advancements delivered through this front.
In other places, Vivo phones that encase the latest sensor from Goodix happen to be linked to the company’s x100 ultra model which is the world’s first device to feature a massive 200MP telephoto camera lens.
Image: DIW-Aigen
