Google's Upcoming Pixel 4 Smartphone Features Face Unlock and Gesture Recognition

[ROGmaster]

I didn't address it directly because there was no need to.

My point is and always has been the same - it's not going to matter.

Your point is moot.
That's why you tried to avoid the subject of this thread by writing a long and forgettable post.
You are just too dogmatic when it comes to Apple to be taken seriously.

but again, this strikes me as a feature that requires tight integration between hardware and software to get right. Something which Google is not well-known for.

Like Google Camera nooo?
And why exactly is this something Google is not well known for? It's just the integration between a chip and the software on the same phone. When exactly did Google fail to get this right?

And then there's still the elephant in the room that no one seems to want to address. How many units do you think Google will sell?

You are incredible. Why exactly is the the elephant in the room?

 

[639051]

10+ years later Apple can't match Google Maps
3+ years later Siri can't match Google Assistant

No kidding. I can’t stand Siri.

 

[MacBergin]

"Other phones require you to lift the device all the way up, pose in a certain way, wait for it to unlock, and then swipe to get to the homescreen,"

Google, you didn't even try. On my Xs I have to:

- Reach for my phone
- Grab it
- Lift it
- Face my phone
- Wait
- Put a finger on the screen
- Swipe up
- Lift the finger

So many steps, Pixel is better

A) that was an ad...let's wait and see what it's like in the real world and B) what you listed above takes less than a second. How addicted are you to your facebook feed that you need it faster than a half second. If it takes you longer you are doing it wrong.

 

[TeamPixel]

No kidding. I can’t stand Siri.

"Other phones require you to lift the device all the way up, pose in a certain way, wait for it to unlock, and then swipe to get to the homescreen,"

Google, you didn't even try. On my Xs I have to:

- Reach for my phone
- Grab it
- Lift it
- Face my phone
- Wait
- Put a finger on the screen
- Swipe up
- Lift the finger

So many steps, Pixel is better

Spot on mate

 

[MacBergin]

defenders of the  cause will try to denigrate anything not , but this Pixel 4 seems superior in many ways to the awkward, slow and unreliable FaceID.

Add to that no freaking horrid notch and a decision to forego the animoji cringefest, the Pixel 4 is in many many ways the iPhone I wish  made.

Nothing in the 2019 iPhone rumor mill suggest anything but basically the same old stuff getting sold again out of Cupertino with a new coat of lipstick - so the Pixel 4 at the moment IS the interesting phone to watch

Please go buy a Pixel 4 and enjoy, but please leave the blog so we don't have to hear you cry.

 

[Abazigal]

I am also not sure I would consider the lockscreen being skipped directly to the homescreen to be a feature since a lot of the time I wake up the screen, it's just to check notifications and the like, not the rest. A conscious decision to slide up or tap or whatever seems less like a tech limit than an actual UX decision.

 

[toph2toast]

Where did I ever talk about “doing it first”? Oh right, nowhere.

Let’s see, where else has Apple had a head start that nobody else caught up on their first try (or ever)?

• TouchID? It took almost 2 years before anyone had a sensor as fast and accurate.
• 64bit processors? 1.5 years before the first Android device had 64bit, and Android has stayed years behind and is still playing catch-up.
• Inline hardware encryption? Uh, oh. Sorry to bring this one up. It took Google/Pixel a whopping 7 years after Apple to implement this.
• NVMe storage? I don’t know - is there even an Android device with this yet?

You want me to go on?

You said:

And I gave you several reasons. Mainly because they AREN'T using the same tech as Apple. Apple has superior software and vastly superior processors. You know, the parts that have to process the facial data from those sensors in real time. Apple can design silicon in their processor for this specific task. Google’s stuck using an off-the-shelf processor

How long has Google had street view which is finally coming to iOS 13? And don't get me started on Apple Maps, everyone knows that's a joke. What about dark mode? Widgets? Screen sharing without a secondary device, sign in with google. Shall I continue. I can do this all day bud.

Also, please quote me where I called you out for the "its not about being first", because I didn't, it was a general statement.

Lastly, you are still making ridiculous assumptions about the Google tech. I clearly explained how it can be used to make the face unlock procedure more smooth that Face ID, but if keep wanting to think they need to have a head start then I can't change your mind. You've drank enough of the apple koolaid for me to get through to you, no matter how much logic is applied.
[doublepost=1564492866][/doublepost]

Dark mode is only being introduced in Android Q. Do not go saying that dark mode can be put on a phone with an app as that is not Android. Also a good portion of Apple's apps have been dark mode for years.
[doublepost=1564446507][/doublepost]
That is exactly what I am saying it should require attention. Google mentions nothing about This that I can see. Also you can turn off requires attention for Face ID which makes it faster but less secure.

Still was before it was fully released on iOS, true or false? I'll wait.

 

[Timemaster]

I am also not sure I would consider the lockscreen being skipped directly to the homescreen to be a feature since a lot of the time I wake up the screen, it's just to check notifications and the like, not the rest. A conscious decision to slide up or tap or whatever seems less like a tech limit than an actual UX decision.

I could see that but also you need to look at the difference between iOS and Android when it comes to notifications.
Android handles them very differently and has a lot more options in how to read them. iOS you are required to relay much more heavy on the lock screen part which is not the same for Android.
All in all as much as I like my iPhone XR the way the notifications were done on my Android devices is something I miss a lot as I though they were handled better.

 

[toph2toast]

Please go buy a Pixel 4 and enjoy, but please leave the blog so we don't have to hear you cry.

All of those observations are valid. Not sure how you would interpret that as crying but OK.

 

[GalileoSeven]

So you are sleeping?
How much support does Google have to offer in order to match Apple?

Currently they offer 3 major OS updates plus an additional year of security updates which won't matter much because they are actively working on separating security updates from OS updates so users will only need Google Play Store in order to get Security updates.
Past that, Google Apps and Google services will continue to get regular updates even if the phone won't receive any major OS updates.

Apple typically supports iPhones 4 yrs or so from the time of release. Google only gives the Pixels what? 2-3yrs of support? Seriously - matching Apple here shouldn't be that hard.

 

[H3LL5P4WN]

"Other phones require you to lift the device all the way up, pose in a certain way, wait for it to unlock, and then swipe to get to the homescreen,"

Google, you didn't even try. On my Xs I have to:

- Reach for my phone
- Grab it
- Lift it
- Face my phone
- Wait
- Put a finger on the screen
- Swipe up
- Lift the finger

So many steps, Pixel is better

Funny, I all I have to do is pick it up and swipe. Hell, if I get a notification, all I have to do is glance at it and it unlocks.

And this is with a tempered glass screen protector that covers the entire sensor package.

Pixel is an iPhone also-ran.

 

[sumsingwong]

Apple brought it first, Google perfected it. Sound familiar? They even beat Apple to the punch with air gestures incorporated in the radar/motion sensor.

 

[sumsingwong]

I never have to type in my password... my
FACE ID never fails

You must not get out often. If you did, you would know how much of a fail FaceID is in direct sunlight.

 

[TheSapient]

You must not get out often. If you did, you would know how much of a fail FaceID is in direct sunlight.

Honestly, different people have different experiences with these technologies. Some people have endless problems with facial recognition or fingerprint sensors or both. Some people have no problems. Don't assume anyone else's success rate will be the same as yours.

 

[sumsingwong]

Honestly, different people have different experiences with these technologies. Some people have endless problems with facial recognition or fingerprint sensors or both. Some people have no problems. Don't assume anyone else's success rate will be the same as yours.

It's a technical limitation because the direct sunlight is brighter than the dots used by the 3D facial recognition can put out. It's fact. This negatively impacts the majority of individuals who attempt to use it with direct sunlight on their faces if not all.

 

[Coconut Bean]

No, FaceID is superior to TouchID. Never have issues with FaceID and I wear multiple glasses - reading, normal and sunglasses and sometimes no glasses. It still unlocks fast every time.

If your glasses hindered your use of TouchID then you were for surely using it wrong.

 

[realtuner]

If your glasses hindered your use of TouchID then you were for surely using it wrong.

Way to miss the point. FaceID works even when there are subtle differences in my face (like wearing glasses or not) or if I'm lazy and don't shave for a week. Others have mentioned FaceID still working if they're wearing a hat or other clothing that might partially obscure your face.

 

[Coconut Bean]

I only wish Face ID worked with any orientation, and once unlocked, immediately opened with no swiping.

This is exactly where the articles says the pixel will bring an improvement...

 

[Just sayin...]

Any idea whether or not Google bucked the trend and showed true courage by adding a headphone jack in this phone?

 

[Coconut Bean]

Way to miss the point. FaceID works even when there are subtle differences in my face (like wearing glasses or not) or if I'm lazy and don't shave for a week. Others have mentioned FaceID still working if they're wearing a hat or other clothing that might partially obscure your face.

Sure. But none of that makes it superior to TouchID as TouchID is completely sunglass and facial hair neutral.

 

[realtuner]

How long has Google had street view which is finally coming to iOS 13? And don't get me started on Apple Maps, everyone knows that's a joke. What about dark mode? Widgets? Screen sharing without a secondary device, sign in with google. Shall I continue. I can do this all day bud.

Also, please quote me where I called you out for the "its not about being first", because I didn't, it was a general statement.

Lastly, you are still making ridiculous assumptions about the Google tech. I clearly explained how it can be used to make the face unlock procedure more smooth that Face ID, but if keep wanting to think they need to have a head start then I can't change your mind. You've drank enough of the apple koolaid for me to get through to you, no matter how much logic is applied.

What does Maps have to do with any of this? Are you only capable of deflection when you lack a counter argument?

It's simple physics and high-school geometry. You previously said:

why would it not be possible to teach it everything it would see laying flat on a desk?

I'll tell you why. The dot projector in the iPhone is 30,000 dots. To work while flat on a desk the dot projector in the Pixel 4 would need at least 480,000 dots, or 16x as many.

What happens to the area of a square when you double the length of a side? The area goes up by 4x. The dot projector in the iPhone has a narrow range of view. This picture (while not exactly accurate) by Apple sums it up better than I could.

People seem to think "hey, just make a wide-angle dot projector". It's not that simple. Just as the area of a square goes up by 4 when you double the length of a side, so to does the area of a cone (which is what this image shows) when you increase the angle. In order to keep the number of dots that reach the users face the same (so you have enough resolution to do an accurate 3D map) you need to increase the number of dots so that each square inch still gets the same number of dots.

Imagine a "cone" the size of the red lines I drew on the picture (so you could capture facial data at an angle you'd see when your phone is on your desk). You can already see the area it has to cover would go up substantially. My numbers show a cone with an angle of 140 degrees would require 16x the number of dots, or the 480,000 figure I gave above. This presents several problems.

• Power Draw: Unless Google has some magical IR cameras that suddenly became 16x as good at picking up IR light, then those dots will need to be projected at the same intensity as you see with the iPhone. 16x as many dots requires 16x as much power. That's going to be a lot of heat/energy to dissipate.
• Projecting at Extreme Angles: I don't know of any dot projector that can project dots over such a wide angle. None of the ones currently on the market are anywhere near wide enough.
• Flood Illuminator: As with the dot projector, the flood illuminator would also need to light up a very wide area. This is much simpler to do than with a dot projector, but you still need a flood illuminator with 16x the output. Again, much more power and heat generated.
  
• IR Cameras: Illuminating the subject is only one problem. You also need a very wide angle IR camera in order to capture that data.

So no, it's not as simple as "teaching it while laying flat on a desk". That's about as ridiculous as saying "why doesn't Intel simply double the performance of their processor every year?"

 

[I7guy]

You must not get out often. If you did, you would know how much of a fail FaceID is in direct sunlight.

Similar to in the winter time, when one has gloves on and has to take the gloves off to unlock a phone with Touch ID...

 

[GuruZac]

Maybe I have an extraordinary iPhone XR (sarcasm) but I’m just not experiencing any of the issues with Face ID portrayed on this site. It works 99% of the time and on iOS 13, is really damn fast.

 

[ROGmaster]

Apple typically supports iPhones 4 yrs or so from the time of release. Google only gives the Pixels what? 2-3yrs of support? Seriously - matching Apple here shouldn't be that hard.

Like I've wrote Google's support extends past 3 years.
Pixel 3's support will end with Android S but it will continue to get security updates and updates for stock Google apps and for Google Services. What's wrong with that?
After 2021 Pixel 3 will be too old for the latest Android anyway. Like most 1Gb iPhones were too old for ios 11 for example.

 

[Heineken]

Sure. But none of that makes it superior to TouchID as TouchID is completely sunglass and facial hair neutral.

But it fails if your finger is dirty, wet or scratched or with you don’t put it correctly on the scanner. Both have downsides.