KGI: TrueDepth Camera Gives Apple 2.5 Year Lead Over Android Competitors

[kdarling]

Not possible for apple to patent this technology?

Sure, some new things they could, but the basic facial recognition methods they're using have been around for decades.

Heck, Face Id likely got seriously started when Apple bought the company that did Microsoft's Kinect dot projection system, and more recently, a photographic face recognition company. Both from Israel, btw.

Then retina

There were Windows Mobile phones with retina resolution back when the first iPhone came out.

And the iPhone long used GPUs developed for WinMo and other smartphones.

I never understood why Android fanboys were saying Apple copied this.

They're mistaken. Different method entirely.

 

[dan110]

Are people really upgrading their phones based on "better cameras"?

 

[one more]

As much as Apple wants to be the Gucci and Prada of tech... it won’t work if you can get better or the same for halve the price.

Apple has invented the smartphone, that is for sure. They still have a great combination of hardware and software running in a closely controlled “Apple garden”. I will still choose iOS vs anything else. But those prices... Let’s see what happens with the 2018 iPhone lineup.

 

[DNichter]

Not surprising. Touch ID still works better than what Android phone makers have, although much closer now. It did take a few years.

 

[falainber]

Are people really upgrading their phones based on "better cameras"?

Some people just need an excuse to upgrade

 

[DNichter]

Why do people still keep bringing this up? Even Apple said that Touch ID under the screen was investigated as a plan B Incase Face ID wouldn’t work. Face ID is undoubtedly the future.

I agree. Why bring something back that requires you to place your finger onto something when they can use a solution that you don't even have to think about.

 

[true god]

Baseless, uncalled for and disrespectful.

Woof, woof!!

 

[gavroche]

If Apple tells them it's the future, they believe it's the future with no further research. They may not even ever try it and it is so.

Go away. Seriously. you obviously have no interest in actual constructive conversation about the pros and cons of anything. you are just here to insult people that use Apple products, and make ridiculous generalizations. As someone who's been on this site r for over a decade and using technology since before u were likely born... GO AWAY.

 

[DevNull0]

It really is a silly thing to say. I guess it's a nice toy if you like the face scanner, but it's really a minor feature. How many years ahead was Android on OLED screens? They're still ahead considering they've had 1440p screen in the non-plus iPhone size for years compared to the iPhone 8's 750p and iPhone X with its non-standard 1125p (minus a notch).

How many years until the Apple pencil works with the iPhone (like the Note). Now that iPhone has an edge-to-edge screen, I still don't see the edge menus Android has used for years.

The point here being singling out one feature of the iPhone and claiming the iPhone is years ahead is just silly when the galaxies are years ahead in many other ways. Expandable flash and multiple sim cards both a heck of a lot better than face unlocking and animojis.

 

[IG88]

This is a "why notch has to be there" sort of post. It's almost suggesting to Apple's competitors that "the future is the notch in order to have all the TrueDepth camera technology"

The notch doesn’t have to be there. Apple could have blacked out the screen background on either side and used it for notifications only. There is no reason to force content up into the ears. No need for it at all.

 

[9081094]

Apple has invented the smartphone, that is for sure. They still have a great combination of hardware and software running in a closely controlled “Apple garden”. I will still choose iOS vs anything else. But those prices... Let’s see what happens with the 2018 iPhone lineup.

Yes, Apple did a great job with the iPhone in 2007. But the last 5 years they've been stalling in not only phones but computers and all the few things they make. You should think that because they're only active is such a few categories they could focus all their efforts in pulling out the best... can’t say that anymore and lucky you when you live in the USA... outside the USA apple is getting leapfrogged because their services are bad and often more than twice as expensive compared to the competition.

 

[iSayBoourns]

IMHO most won't even bother 'copying' FaceID. Samsung has a sure thing with its Iris scanning, most other Android manufacturers will likely go with developing TouchID that is embedded in the screen. FaceID is also very likely a stopgap for Apple until they figure out screen-embedded Touch ID as the others are.

FaceID is not a stopgap until TouchID can be embedded into the display. You’re acting as if Apple just magically whipped this technology up last minute because it couldn’t get embedded TouchID done in time. As with most things, they have been working on this for multiple years. The A11 Bionic chip alone (something required to help make FaceID possible with the Neural Engine) has been 3 years in developement (something they’ve known they wanted to make since the A8 chip was released)

 

[vartanarsen]

Apple has invented the smartphone, that is for sure. They still have a great combination of hardware and software running in a closely controlled “Apple garden”. I will still choose iOS vs anything else. But those prices... Let’s see what happens with the 2018 iPhone lineup.

If you call iOS Slop and jank since iOS 7 a great combo of software, you are dreaming

 

[CmdrLaForge]

This notch is truly ugly. I think Apple is 2 years behind in design.

 

[iSayBoourns]

The notch doesn’t have to be there. Apple could have blacked out the screen background on either side and used it for notifications only. There is no reason to force content up into the ears. No need for it at all.

Content isn’t forced up into the ears. The ears are mostly used just for status bar info (which removes that info off the usable screen and gives more usable screen to the apps) and allowing a distinct left and right pull down spot visually separate for NC and CC. It allows all four corners of the actual display to match the curvature of the device. Blacking out the entire top defeats the purpose of removing bezels if you’re just going to just put them back in via software.

 

[FelixDerKater]

Until Huawei tacks it on.

 

[840quadra]

I remember those intel vs PowerPC ad. Apple used a snail to point at Intel. Until they ran into trouble with the PowerPC and I saw friends of my running circles with their cheap pc's with photoshop compared to my 5x expensive Mac. I even wrote to Steve Jobs about it and the next year we saw an Intel Mac.

I do care for real life tests because that’s how you use your device. I don’t care if it’s tenths of seconds slower. But when it’s slower and more than twice as expensive you must admit there is something wrong.

Each person has a real world example that fits their needs and works for them. I can’t and will not say the tests are meaningless, but, I don’t much care about a few MS of launching time.

I need my devices to be able to talk fast to my cameras, pull in photos quickly, edit them, export, and post. Or, edit video, add in layers, etc and export without making me wait for an eternity. Again, my use case.

Both platforms can do this well, and I don’t think there is a wide enough delta between them to pick between the high end devices on either platform. Sometimes the biggest advantage is coding optimization from the developer. Doesn’t matter if you have a 8gb of RAM, and 3GHz of processing, if the developer doesn’t optimize the code.

But in the real world, I don't think anyone cares if you can open an app 100ms faster.

Most, if not all, Android mid-range devices will do a very good job at mail/messaging/camera/navigation/banking/etc. Apple has a small advantage at loading time for games.

I'd lose far more time on the iPhone because of the inadequacies of the UI, where the back button is both inconsistent (swipe or top-left) and badly placed (top-left), every app is forced to put settings into the Settings app so you need to quit to change anything etc. Try connecting to Bluetooth or WiFi from an Android and you'll see how quicker it is, since you can long-press the drop-down icons.

Not to mention putting music on my phone, which is a breeze when I can simply copy it across and I don't need any 3rd party application, particularly one with such a horrible, unintuitive user experience (in my opinion) as iTunes.

Being unable to customise my screens with direct dials, calendar widgets, location sharing etc. - not even simply grouping icons, visually, which on iOS you cannot do because it allows no gap in icon placement - makes general use more involved, clunkier and slower.

The examples are endless. The iPhone is like a car that goes slightly faster but only in a straight line. It's still a 2007 device, even with the bells and whistles, while Android moved on.

I get it, I like and have Android devices too.

I am faster at some things on my Android phone due to some of the shortcuts you mention, but am faster on my iOS device for some things due to 3D Touch, and iOS optimization for some of their software. It’s all in what you get used to doing. I still think some of the best UI shortcuts came from early jailbreak utilities from iPhone OS, back when the G1 was one of the few Android phones out in the wild.

Apple is limited, but, has come a long ways since 2007, and honestly a little less limited than your perceptions outline.

 

[Macalway]

Read between the lines: Supply disaster

 

[Ds6778]

Am I missing something here? Face ID and emojis put Apple almost three years ahead? Lol wut.

 

[Moonlight]

This whole thread is FULL of butthurt on both sides.

 

[Pilgrim1099]

Apple has invented the smartphone, that is for sure. They still have a great combination of hardware and software running in a closely controlled “Apple garden”. I will still choose iOS vs anything else. But those prices... Let’s see what happens with the 2018 iPhone lineup.

They did NOT invent anything smartphone related. Wait until Cook gets replaced by Jeff "Stumbling COO" Williams in the future. It's going to get worse if he becomes Wall Street's slave. Then Apple's 'walled garden' will come tumbling down.

The wall always comes down at the end.

 

[Starfyre]

The notch doesn’t have to be there. Apple could have blacked out the screen background on either side and used it for notifications only. There is no reason to force content up into the ears. No need for it at all.

Even still, that approach makes Apple fall even further behind in the screen to bezel ratio compared to its competitors. All that technology takes up space on the front, blacking out either side is just reducing screen real estate. Unless there was some way for Apple to have bade that notch into part of the OLED display, there is no way around the notch.

 

[Moonlight]

I for one can see past Face ID and Animojis for the new facial cameras and am envisioning a world where you can create fully animated movies using your smart phone for motion tracking and facial tracking. Imagine for a second being able to animate and voice Buzz Lightyear using your phone.

 

[johnnyenv]

Backs up my theory that there will be a modest update to this years iPhone 8 in 2018 and it'll be called iPhone 9. The next iPhone X or XS will be in 2019

 

[iSayBoourns]

true, if Apple was able to implement the sensor under the screen, FaceID doesn't exist. They'll scrap FaceID once they get it working.

Riiiiight...

Apple magically whipped up this technology last minute because it couldn’t get TouchID embedded into the display. Yeah that’s how things work. In reality land, FaceID has been something in development for multiple years and has been their long term plan. A11 Bionic (which is a puzzle piece to all this with it’s Neural Engine handling all the face learning and adapting) has been in development for 3 years....since the release of the A8 chip. One doesn’t spend at least 3 years working on something that’s a “backup plan”.

Man, some of you ultra negative towards everything, never satisfied yahoos truely cannot stop and use an ounce of thought before resorting to scoffing at literally everything Apple does, no matter what it is.

Apple could come out with an iPhone or Apple Watch that while in your pocket/on wrist, scan and detect cancer at such an early stage, long before any technology is possible currently, making 100% success rate of beating cancer (because one would know at such early stages like never before) and people would STILL claim it sucks and Apple doesn’t innovate.