Samsung has finally announced the much-anticipated Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ at a special event in Barcelona today. Along with many new bells and whistles, the S9 duo also come with improved security features for authentication and data access.
Samsung introduced the Iris scanning authentication system first in its ill-fated Galaxy Note 7. The feature later made its way into the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy Note 8 and has been further improved on the Galaxy S9. Iris scanning in the Galaxy S9 series has been improved to identify iris patterns from greater distances. This should theoretically make the process of unlocking through iris scanning a little less awkward.
Intelligent scan combines Iris scanning and facial recognition
The facial recognition technology introduced in the Galaxy S8 is also further improved in the Galaxy S9 duo. The new advanced facial recognition technology utilizes more data to recognize users' distinct facial features from different angles.
Furthermore, Samsung has combined iris scanning, facial recognition and intelligent technologies to create a new seamless deep learning-based biometric authentication system called Intelligent Scan. This new authentication system uses the collective strength of the Galaxy S9’s iris scanning and facial recognition features to allow users to authenticate with a simple glance.
Intelligent Scan analyses your face’s visible features, surrounding lighting conditions, and determines the ideal authentication method to unlock the device. In simple words, it’s an intelligent authentication system which automatically chooses between facial recognition and iris can depending on the environment. This multimodal approach ensures successful authentication in a variety of surroundings. The combination of the two different solutions should also help users authenticate easily even when a piece of clothing or accessory is obstructing a part of the face. Samsung plans to integrate its Intelligent Scan feature into various applications beginning with Samsung Pass.
Finally, the Galaxy S9 also brings new features to the tried and tested fingerprint authentication. Apart from making the fingerprint reader location more convenient, the Galaxy S9 also allows users to register fingerprints with a single swipe. Samsung has also added a new feature to assign a dedicated fingerprint to access Secure Folder. When the user unlocks the device with this dedicated fingerprint, the Galaxy S9 takes the user directly to the contents of the Secure Folder.
