The University of Massachusetts Amherst
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Smartphone Fingerprint Scanners

The next generation of Smartphone security is here! Mostly clear fingerprint sensors can now be embedded behind or under the screen. There has been a huge push in phones this year to make the bezels as tiny as possible. Of course this means finding a place for the fingerprint scanner. Many phones have moved it to the back. LG was the first to do it, and it was relatively well executed. Samsung followed suit, and many complain it’s too hard to tell apart from the camera bump. The Pixel and Pixel 2 have one on the back that works well and has gestures! To minimize the bezel, the iPhone X removed the scanner all-together, and instead hid a plethora of sensors inside its iconic notch to usher in the era of faceID.

 

But now two android phones are being released that place the fingerprint scanner, almost completely invisibly, under the screen. The first, a VIVO X20 Plus UD, won an award for best in show at CES 2018. The sensor is a small pad where a traditional scanner should be. Any time that area of the phone is touched, that area of the phone flashes brightly, and the sensor looks for the light reflected off of your finger. Check it out here:

Vivo’s concept phone brings the concept a bit further, with the fingerprint scanner taking up a larger pad, allowing you to touch anywhere on roughly 1/3 of the screen. This concept phone also pushes the bezel-less concept another level by moving the selfie-cam to a piece of plastic that extends in and out from the top of the phone. Is this the future?

 

Limitations:

It’s a bit “slow” right now. (It takes about a second.) The cool animation should be enough to hold you over.  But keep in mind it’s also the first generation of a product. It will only get quicker with time.

The phone needs to have an OLED screen.  While not uncommon, many phones, Iphones included, have LCD displays.  OLED screens allow individual pixels to turn on and off, rather than the whole screen or none of it, like LED displays require.

And finally, yes, at very specific lighting conditions and viewing angles, you can see the sensor through the screen.