Fingerprint sensors on the Samsung devices have improved to a large extent. I remember using the feature to unlock my note 4 and even after multiple times of swiping the finger on the home button, the device failed to unlock. It was just a half cooked feature. But Samsung has since improved the reading algorithm and sensor itself.
Now the phone has fairly dependable sensor that sits under the oval home button. They are good but they are not great. you know what’s great?
The iPhone Touch ID. They seemed to recognize the print every time without failing.
Now Samsung is with the idea of making the home button round in order to put a larger sensor under the button to recognize the finger better than before. The current crop of sensors are on the smaller side owing to the bezel obsession that Samsung has. The latest flagships are coming with smaller and smaller top/bottom bezels and this has left little room to fit in the sensor.
With the round button, the bezel size will no doubt increase but it will provide better security as well as enhanced user experience. Samsung has also applied for a patent for this idea even though it isn’t new.
You know what isn’t new either?
The back mounted fingerprint sensor.
Top phones such as the NEXUS 6P and LG G5 use a back mounted sensor. Samsung is also with the idea of placing the sensor on top of the back plate. This enables the Korean tech giant to fit in a big sensor with fool-proof security. Even this idea has been applied for a patent. After careful analyzation, I think that Samsung wouldn’t use the idea in the real world as it has a good home button sensor that is simple as well as intuitive to use.
But all this could soon be irrelevant. The note 7 is rumored to be using an iris scanner that unlocks the phone using a retinal scan making the fingerprint sensor obsolete. But that may be a fit further in the future.
