Biometrics on the Samsung Galaxy S8 are a confusing mess
The 5.8-inch Samsung Galaxy S8 is a lot of screen and, because of that, it maybe has a tad too many biometric options — meaning you can unlock your phone in maybe too many ways with your hands and face.
The extra-large "infinity display" not only curves over the sides, but extends nearly to the top and bottom edges of the device. There’s a thin strip at the top that accommodates the selfie camera, IR reader, proximity sensor and speaker, but otherwise the screen leaves no room for a physical home button anywhere on the face of the Samsung Galaxy S8 or 6.2-inch S8+. Instead, there’s a virtual Home button that appears in the same spot as a physical one might. When you press that spot, you get a little haptic response.
It’s not a fingerprint reader. Samsung moved that to the back.
You can still register a fingerprint to unlock the phone — by reaching your finger around the back and feeling for the reader (it’s a small indent) right next to the camera lens.
There’s a couple of other ways to unlock the phone without guessing the location of that reader: an updated Iris scanner, or the brand new facial-recognition technology, both on the front of the phones.
So that's:
Fingerprints
Eyeballs
Faces
I have no idea why Samsung now includes so many different biometric security options. It's a wonder they didn't include heartbeat.
Face time
I’ve had a lot of experience with facial-recognition technology thanks to Microsoft Windows Hello technology, which, with an IR-based scanner, lets you unlock your Windows 10 PC with your face. So I was excited to try it on Samsung’s new phones.
Registering my face with the phone took a few seconds: I held the phone out in front of my face (maybe a little more than a foot away), aligned my face with a circle in on the screen and then a blue-line filled in around it until my mug was fully registered.
To unlock the phone with my face, I pressed the wake button on the right side of the phone and then looked at the screen. There’s no indication that the phone recognized my face, except that the phone instantly unlocked.
It happened so quickly that I wasn’t sure if I was unlocking the phone in some other way. To verify that the phone was reading my face each time, I covered the that thin top edge of the Samsung Galaxy S8 with my index finger. As soon as I did that, the screen didn’t unlock, but instead told me that it would turn the screen off in a moment. As soon as I uncovered the camera, the phone unlocked.
This seemed awesome, but Samsung also made it clear to me that its facial unlocking technology is not their most secure biometric system. In fact, it can’t be used for purchases with Samsung Pay. For that, you still must use the fingerprint reader on that back.
The front-facing iris scanner, on the other hand, can still be used to pay for items and unlock your phone.
What the what?
Is it just me or is Samsung’s whole Galaxy 8 and 8+ biometric picture a bit confused? My suspicion is that moving the fingerprint reader, the simplest way to unlock and pay, is the culprit here.
To make the screen so big, Samsung had to move the physical button, but knowing how much people rely on the physical button and fingerprint reader combo, they couldn’t simply get rid of it. So they moved half of it to the back (the fingerprint reader), and then back filled the front with an extra biometric option: facial recognition.
But since facial recognition isn’t strong enough security for payment (why didn’t Samsung use more secure technology here?), they must keep the fingerprint reader. And since that is now on the back of the phone, they also have to keep a more secure unlocking and payment technology on the front — the Iris scanner.
Got all that?
This is all pretty confusing, and I suspect it will be the area that generates the most frustration from future Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ owners who probably would’ve preferred a little more simplicity.
It’s also a little odd to see the home button demoted to a single feature: accessing home screen. As far as I can tell, it has no other purpose. Yes, pressing it harder does activate the hidden, vibrating haptics behind the screen and light up the virtual back and open apps button, but that’s it. Is that a purpose?
I wish Samsung could’ve found a way to integrate the fingerprint reader behind the screen. That would’ve been some real innovation and cut down on biometric overload, as well as people accidentally putting their fingers on top of the rear camera lens instead of the rear camera reader.
Sometimes too much of a good thing is simply too much.
Topics Samsung
Lance Ulanoff was Chief Correspondent and Editor-at-Large of Mashable. Lance acted as a senior member of the editing team, with a focus on defining internal and curated opinion content. He also helped develop staff-wide alternative story-telling skills and implementation of social media tools during live events. Prior to joining Mashable in September 2011 Lance Ulanoff served as Editor in Chief of PCMag.com and Senior Vice President of Content for the Ziff Davis, Inc. While there, he guided the brand to a 100% digital existence and oversaw content strategy for all of Ziff Davis’ Web sites. His long-running column on PCMag.com earned him a Bronze award from the ASBPE. Winmag.com, HomePC.com and PCMag.com were all been honored under Lance’s guidance.He makes frequent appearances on national, international, and local news programs including Fox News, the Today Show, Good Morning America, Kelly and Michael, CNBC, CNN and the BBC.He has also offered commentary on National Public Radio and been interviewed by newspapers and radio stations around the country. Lance has been an invited guest speaker at numerous technology conferences including SXSW, Think Mobile, CEA Line Shows, Digital Life, RoboBusiness, RoboNexus, Business Foresight and Digital Media Wire’s Games and Mobile Forum.
