The Galaxy S8 looks set to be one of, if not the best Android phone available in this year when it arrives at the end of April, but there could be an issue with one of its new features.
This year, Sammy opted to do away with the home button, moving the fingerprint scanner to the rear of the phone and adding an iris scanner to the front.
And perhaps in an effort to appease those that begrudge having to tap their digits on the back of the phone rather than the front, the company also added a new facial recognition feature to the front of the device.
Related: Galaxy S8 Plus
However, it seems there could be an issue with the new technology that would make it very easy for others to unlock the phone without having, well, your face.
In fact, all they’d need, according to a new video, is a photo of you in order to bypass the facial recognition feature.
A video posted by blogger MarcianoTech, in which he uses a pre-release version of the S8, shows the phone being unlocked using a photo (at the 1:09 mark).
The photo trick seems to have been confirmed in a Periscope video from Spanish Periscope user Marcianophone (about six minutes in).
Samsung has said in the past that its Face Unlock feature isn’t designed to be the most secure option, rather as a convenient alternative to entering a code or using your fingerprint, and has prevented the tech being used for mobile payments.
Google previously introduced facial recognition in Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich back in 2011, and admitted the technology could be bypassed using a photo.
Whether consumers will care too much about this latest revelation on the S8 remains to be seen, but at least this news isn’t explosion-related.
Let us know what you think of the facial recognition revelations in the comments.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
