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Samsung's Newest Phones Read Your Fingerprints With Ultrasonic Sound Waves (cnet.com)
An anonymous reader quotes CNET:
The Galaxy S10's in-screen fingerprint scanner may look just like the one on the OnePlus 6T, but don't be fooled. Samsung's flagship Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus are the first phones to use Qualcomm's ultrasonic in-screen fingerprint technology, which uses sound waves to read your print.
Related to ultrasound in a doctor's office, this "3D Sonic Sensor" technology works by bouncing sound waves off your skin. It'll capture your details through water, lotion and grease, at night or in bright daylight. Qualcomm also claims it's faster and much more secure than the optical fingerprint sensor you've seen in other phones before this. That's because the ultrasonic reader takes a 3D capture of all the ridges and valleys that make up your skin, compared to a 2D image -- basically a photo -- that an optical reader captures using light, not sound waves.
Related to ultrasound in a doctor's office, this "3D Sonic Sensor" technology works by bouncing sound waves off your skin. It'll capture your details through water, lotion and grease, at night or in bright daylight. Qualcomm also claims it's faster and much more secure than the optical fingerprint sensor you've seen in other phones before this. That's because the ultrasonic reader takes a 3D capture of all the ridges and valleys that make up your skin, compared to a 2D image -- basically a photo -- that an optical reader captures using light, not sound waves.
Except it's more expensive?
There's really no reason to buy a new smartphone at all these days, is there?
Anyone know how it gets the resolution it needs? Even ultrasonics have long wavelengths. It would have to be extremely high frequency to image the finger. But perhaps they use some sort of channeled time domain reflectometry or near field methods to get the lateral resolution.
Still it's not obvious what they mean from the description
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
I play guitar and my thumb and index are shredded on both hands, the callouses seem to flake off and change all the time. I think I'd end up never being able to unlock my phone.
There has to be more to this or they are completely ignorant to the original attack. Perhaps Samsung plans to use it for medical reasons as well?
The current attacks work by duplicating your finger, like a picture. In some cases not a very detailed picture either. It's not that attackers can't produce better replicas it's that they didn't NEED to. So now Samsung moves the bar a bit higher, OK... so what? They haven't solved any security issues.
What I fear is that organizations which rely on such security will think this is a valid option, it isn't.
Medical use however is an _ENTIRELY_ different thing I could see this being used for if indeed they've managed to squeeze ultrasound detection into such a small package. Think about it, what if you had a camera you could take pictures of a wound with ? Be it lower resolution then what you'd get in a lab but still, that can be enough. Their blood oxygen / heartrate sensor on older phones is pretty damned accurate just hope this isn't tied to their retarded "Samsung Health" which requires an account now.
..,shredded? It's on the back of the neck. That part is smooth!
The feature is notably missing from the S10e, the only one of the three of them that is a reasonable size. Even my S7 is a bit too big, making one-handed use awkward and difficult. The S10e is larger still, but the other two are just ridiculous.
I really wish Samsung wasn't participating in this infuriation game of seeing who can make the largest phone. They're either marketing to people 6'10" with hands the size of my feet, or morons who like looking like fools holding tablets to their heads to talk. I'm neither a giant nor a douchebag, so I'm left with sub-par, handicapped phones to choose from.
As people age, fingerprints get vary hard for machines to read - I wonder if this approach will work better, it sounds like it.
Seems like a nice advancement for that tech, although I still prefer FaceID to even a faster fingerprint scanner (especially in winter).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Can't we all just agree to ditch this mad pursuit of conceptually unachievable feat of security by fingerprints? It is a waste of my money.
Will this tech be worse or better in terms of rejecting attempts at unlocking with fake fingers or lifeless fingers (from deceased persons etc.)? Will it be able to detect blood flow etc?
Now we need boxes that are bigger on the inside then on the outside.
So long as your lover is not a sadist, you should be fine. Search Google, found YouTube
Yes, Samsung has once again copied a feature that Apple won't have for another two years.
Cool - it's the wrong shape and doesn't do much other than read fingerprints ... but it is clearly the first attempt at a sonic scewdriver!