Following the almost endless stream of leaks and rumors surrounding the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 recently, it became more and more evident that the aforementioned device will be equipped with an iris scanner. In fact, the only thing that’s missing to confirm this characteristic is an official announcement from Samsung, and we should get one in less than a couple of weeks from now, on August 2nd. However, although the iris scanner seems to be one of the handset’s main selling points, a more recent leak indicates that the setup might not be as reliable or convenient as other security methods.
A couple of new photos (below) have been leaked earlier today, offering a sneak preview of the menus within the Samsung Galaxy Note 7’s iris scanner setup stages, which inform users on how the technology should be used in order to combat its limitations and prevent unwanted results. According to the source, one of the pop-ups explains that users should keep their eyes at a minimum distance of 20 centimeters to prevent harmful effects, and warns that babies should not be allowed to look into the iris scanner. The menus also reveal that in order to maximize the sensor’s efficiency, users should not wear glasses or contact lenses when using the iris scanner. Samsung advises users to take off their glasses beforehand and to utilize the feature from distances between 25 cm to 35 cm in order to maximize the sensor’s accuracy, and last but definitely not least, it appears that the iris scanner is not meant to be used in direct sunlight, presumably because it may not work too reliably in these conditions.
Assuming that the images below are genuine and that these warning messages will be shown to all Samsung Galaxy Note 7 users wanting to set up their iris scanners, it looks like the technology might not be mature enough to challenge the efficiency of fingerprint sensors. Granted, a fingerprint is technically easier to replicate than an iris, but judging by this new information alone, the iris scanner seems to have too many limitations and caveats to become a better alternative in terms of practicality and user friendliness. These limitations have prevented other smartphones in the past from succeeding in promoting iris recognition technology, and these are the types of limitations that made some analysts skeptical about the sensor’s usefulness on the Samsung Galaxy Note 7. But, at the end of the day, Samsung has yet to take the wraps off the flagship, and without testing the final product we can’t be certain of how exactly it will perform in the real world.
