As the official unveiling of the Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy S9+ inches closer, more and more leaks are surfacing on the internet. After the alleged press renders of the upcoming devices leaked online, now a new Galaxy S9 feature called ‘Intelligent Scan' has been outed.
APK teardown reveals a new Galaxy S9 feature
In an APK teardown of the Settings app in the latest unreleased Android Oreo beta for the Galaxy Note 8, a senior XDA member ‘mweinbach’ has found a few strings relating to ‘Intelligent Scan'. Since neither the Galaxy S8 nor the Galaxy Note 8 offers any such feature currently, it is believed that the strings found in the APK teardown belong to a new feature in the Galaxy S9 series. The same XDA member has also uploaded what appears to be a Samsung help graphic for the users on how the feature works.
The brief graphic doesn’t explain much other than showing the ‘Intelligent Scan' feature working in different lighting conditions. The feature reportedly combines face and iris scanning to improve accuracy and security even in challenging lighting conditions. It is not yet clear if this is a new authentication system altogether or an improvement to the existing iris scan option.
The Galaxy S8 line-up already features an iris scanner for authentication. Although iris scanning is secure, it is not as quick as other authentication mechanisms already available in the market. Previous reports have suggested that the Galaxy S9 might feature a 3D sensor-equipped front camera to improve facial recognition on the handset. Perhaps this new feature will rely on the improved hardware to speed things up.
Unfortunately, there is one major drawback in manufacturer-specific authentication systems. Unlike a fingerprint reader which uses the standard Android API, Samsung-specific authentication systems have to rely on their own APIs and implementations. This means that app developers must specifically support these authentication systems to work in their apps. If the developer support for the iris scanner in the Galaxy S8 duo and the Galaxy Note 8 is an indication, it is safe to say that developers are not exactly flocking to support any Samsung-specific authentication system.
