could apple update the iPhone's software so that it could recognise your finger print...so instead of typing in a pin code, you could just put your finger print down...or does the iPhone's hardware need to be changed???
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finger print possibility.
- Thread starter nlivo
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that's a damn good idea!
I'm no expert but I would think the iPhones hardware would definetly need to be changed.
I'm no expert but I would think the iPhones hardware would definetly need to be changed.
Genghis Khan
macrumors 65816
im glad you like the idea...it was the first thing i thought of when apple said it could be locked.
The problem I see with this is that the screen is a fingerprint magnet. You'd have to have a dedicated area on the screen to use as a biometric reader, and then you've have to clean that spot after every use. Otherwise, the would-be hacker would have your fingerprint in the correct spot 🙂
Ok here it goes, the screen on iPhone is capacitive not resistive which most common touch screens are due to the lower costs. so a capacitive screen works by creating a constant capacitive field on the screen which is disturbed by the finger's own electric field that is detected by the circuits at the edges. this detection goes through a lot of computation to define where the touch was detected and the other parameters like area,speed,etc which makes these screens costly. It is not pressure sensitive in real terms so it doesn't require pressure for the touch to be registered on the phone. so in normal conditions, fingerprint (which are ridges on the skin) cannot be sensed by finding the pressure points on the finger. also these ridges on the finger are too small to have a noticeable distortion of the screen's capacitive field. most touch screens are designed to sense pressure/touch, but they are not sensitive enough to detect the ridges in the skin of our fingers, thats why special fingerprint scanners are developed which have a small surface area with highly sensitive touch / optical sensors to get the fingerprints.
so in short, i dont expect the iPhone's hardware to be able to detect fingerprints at all.
so in short, i dont expect the iPhone's hardware to be able to detect fingerprints at all.
kdarling
Contributor
Some other phones have a dedicated fingerprint sensor (Toshiba G900 comes to mind).
But the cool coming thing is iris recognition. Just look into the camera and within a couple of seconds it decides if you are you.
A porting kit has been released for Windows Mobile phones, and should be available for any phone with enough camera resolution... which is just about any nowadays.
Cheap, no hardware changes, I like it.
But the cool coming thing is iris recognition. Just look into the camera and within a couple of seconds it decides if you are you.
A porting kit has been released for Windows Mobile phones, and should be available for any phone with enough camera resolution... which is just about any nowadays.
Cheap, no hardware changes, I like it.
Is that something you would really like to do every time you want to check a voicemail or make a call? Awkwardly hold the iPhone up to your eye, and line it up, wait a few seconds, etc?
Sounds like more trouble than it's worth. I'll keep my pin number, thanks.
I'm just afraid that someone is going to do something like in Demolition Man and cut out my eyes or fingers just to get into my phone with the top secret, classified files. 😛
In all seriousness, I don't think it would be worth it at the moment. Maybe in a few years. Plus, they could probably lift a clean fingerprint off the screen.
diamond.g
macrumors G5
kdarling
Contributor
I don't want to do anything each time I do those things 🙂 But if someone does want a lock, then of all the choices...
1) Type in passcode. Awkward at times, and takes a second or two. Also, if anyone watches you, they've got the code.
2) Swipe fingerprint. Awkward at times, and takes a second or two.
3) Look at device. Gotta look at it anyway, and takes a second or two.
The easiest is (3).
Of course, it helps if you have an advanced phone with a second camera facing you.
Cheers, Kev
Instead of a lock code, how bout a series of special swipes to certain locations on the slider. For instance, the user could go all the way, then to the 1/8 position, then back to the beginning, to the 1/4 notch, and so on. It could be divided by colors. ROYGBIV for a 5 color sequence inputed by sliding. This is more efficient then having a separate passcode screen. The iris scanner does sound amazing however.
kdarling
Contributor
Several phones with fingerprint recognition now. For example:
Toshiba G900
It even can unlock your main PC via Bluetooth when you get within range.
One day 😛
Btw, I just read how eye (iris) recognition software can prevent being fooled by photographs (or dead eyeballs)... they flicker a light (perhaps the camera flash) and watch for the pupil to dilate. Clever.
yeah, another idea is that you could touch the screen in a specific pattern...like touch the middle area and then the top left, then bottom right, or something like that.....you could also chuck a 'swipe' in there aswell.
kdarling
Contributor
Not the same thing, but there's a PDA app (I forget what it was) that needed to generate a secret random seed number for security. So they asked you scribble a few circles and lines on the touchscreen, and used the coordinates to generate the seed. Lot more random than some random number generators.