I had two Samsung flagship phones, one (S20FE) had an optical fingerprint reader and the other (S22) had an ultrasonic one. Both of them somewhat regularly failed to read my finger, were slower than a fingerprint reader on the power button and are more expensive/complex to build. They won’t work with cheap 3rd party screen replacements and some screen protectors as well.

Meanwhile my $90 Android phone has a fingerprint reader on the power button. It never fails and I never have to perfectly place my finger on the sensor area to get it to work. It just seems like the perfect place to put a fingerprint sensor, so why do phone manufacturers keep using in-display fingerprint readers over the cheaper alternative?

  • Stoposto@lemmy.world
    53·
    2 months ago

    I don’t understand why “FaceID” isn’t more of a stardard on Android. I remember people online complaining when Apple got rid of TouchID on their phones, yet anyone who use FaceID quickly forget that fingerprint skanners are a thing. It works so fast and you don’t have to complain about where a sensor might be on a device, if you can see the screen the screen the device is unlocked.

    • xigoi@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
      71·
      2 months ago

      The unlocking flow is slower. With the fingerprint scanner, I just put my finger on the screen and go. With face recognition, I have to turn on the screen, wait for it to pick me up, then swipe to unlock.

      • Stoposto@lemmy.world
        3·
        2 months ago

        That might be an android flow, not ios. On my iPhone I pick up th phone and it turns on screens by itself and unlock instantly

    • jbk@discuss.tchncs.de
      4·
      2 months ago

      Large iPhone notches are kinda ugly compared to the simpler notches in most other Android phones. Also, maybe there’s tons of patents by Apple. Could be why I don’t think I’ve ever heard of an Android phone that does more than a simple 2D facial scan with the normal camera

      • Stoposto@lemmy.world
        2·
        2 months ago

        My friend got an nudged android and it seems very bad implemented where it covers content in many apps and it had no functionality like it does on iPhone. On iPhone it’s part of the notification system showing you info from other apps, for an example the timer app shows the time while cooking in nudge while I am on lemmy. Yes on a side by side screenshot it seems alot worse than using my old Motorola next to my IPhone, the “dead pixel” nudge on Android seem to annoy people alot more

    • billybong@lemmynsfw.com
      4·
      2 months ago

      Not quite, you have to have the camera angled at your face. If the phone is flat on your desk it won’t unlock unless you lean right over it.

      • Stoposto@lemmy.world
        2·
        2 months ago

        I don’t usually use my phone while it’s flat on a table, but I can say FaceID does work at an angle, because I just tap the screen and it reads my face and shows me notifications (I don’t have always on turned on and have hidden notifikation content behind the login as well)

    • cynar@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      2 months ago

      It became a big thing on android just before covid happened. Unfortunately, masks completely confused it.

      I currently have both active on my phone, it’s about 50/50 which unlocks it first. I tend to unlock my phone as I bring it out of my pocket via fingerprint. If that fails, then face ID kicks in.

      • Stoposto@lemmy.world
        1·
        2 months ago

        Apple quickly implemented a Mask FaceID scan so you could unlock with mask, I used that or just swiped my watch for payments etc. I did see quite a few android friends go back to fingerprint I remember

        • paperplane@lemmy.world
          2·
          2 months ago

          It took them a few years, if I remember right, though they did add the unlock-with-watch pretty early.

          • Stoposto@lemmy.world
            2·
            2 months ago

            I looked it up and you are totally right, it was in 2022 which wouldn’t have been as fast as I remembered/wrote before!

    • BaroqueInMind@lemmy.one
      32·
      2 months ago

      Because you could unlock anyone’s phone without their consent with just a photograph of their face and some easy to do depth trickery