Back in 2011, Motorola released the highly-anticipated Atrix 4G on AT&T. The device featured specs that were unheard of on a phone at that time, as well as several other unique features. One was that the Atrix had the ability to be docked in a laptop and power it, similar to the ASUS Padfone. The Atrix 4G also had a fingerprint scanner that allowed users to unlock their phone by holding their finger on the scanner, which was located on the very top of the device. Many users found that the technology was rather buggy and sometimes would not work at all. Fast forward to 2013, and rumors of other devices with fingerprint scanners have started appearing. Rumors first started with the iPhone 5S, but now according to a new report, Samsung is also prepping a similar technology.
According to a new report from SamMobile, Samsung has supposedly been testing fingerprint scanning technology on its current line of Galaxy devices. Earlier, a software build for the Galaxy S3 was leaked, and according to SamMobile’s source, inside the leaked file were a plethora of images pertaining to fingerprint technology. The images were found within the SecSettings.apk. SecSettings\res\drawable-hdpi and obviously have something to do with fingerprint reading technology.
The first two images look like they could be related to a number of things, not necessarily fingerprint technology. With the others, however, it seems rather obvious that they are in some way related to fingerprint scanning technology.
There’s no clear indication as to what Samsung has planned with fingerprint technology. With Samsung’s recent attempts to cut away at BlackBerry’s enterprise market, it seems logical that Samsung is looking to beef up its device security in every way possible. Given the company’s history, we wouldn’t be surprised to see Samsung launch another Galaxy S4 variant with fingerprint technology and market it as a high-security device, or something of the sort. But, it is unclear as to how far along Samsung is in testing its technology.
What do you think of unlocking your phone with fingerprint technology? Is it a gimmick or something that could actually be useful? Let us know down in the comments!