Roger Fingas
Code found in Apple's HomePod firmware may suggest that the "iPhone 8's" facial recognition system — internally dubbed "Pearl" — will be able to scan someone and unlock a device while it's resting on a flat surface, instead of forcing users to pick it up and aim the camera.
Code strings include the likes of "AXRestingPearlUnlock" and "com.apple.accessibility.resting.pearl.unlock," iHelp BR noted this weekend. The term "resting" appears in reference to Pearl several other times.
The information appears to align with a July report about the the phone's facial recognition technology, which further hinted that it would be able to authenticate within a few hundred milliseconds. Apple was allegedly considering using facial recognition to replace Touch ID, and so far there's no sign of a rumored Touch ID sensor embedded into the "iPhone 8's" OLED display.
Some other interesting code strings include "APPS_USING_PEARL" and "PEARL_AUTOLOCK," iHelp BR observed. The first hints at an option to unlock specific apps using facial recognition, something that would be necessary to replace Touch ID. The latter could simply block access to people the phone doesn't know.
A number of revelations have come out of the HomePod firmware, including other "iPhone 8" details and Saturday's discovery that Apple is likely preparing a new Apple TV with 4K and HDR support.
Charles Martin
Malcolm Owen
Andrew O'Hara
46 Comments
Everytime I see the facial recognition, I think that there is a reason for Apple putting the fingerprint scanner on the front, because you never haft to lift the phone off the table and can take it anywhere, the only issue being someone wearing gloves. The facial recognition however means you haft to look at the phone, which if it can handle angles like this article claims, then maybe, but what about someone using there phone and not looking towards it, blind people, people wearing helmets(and possibly sunglasses), etc. It is a group of people that are not at convenience.
I can't be the only one reluctant to give up Touch ID for facial recognition, can I?
If that's the deal to get the fancy new phone, I'm much less excited about it than I was earlier this summer.
I have little doubt that Apple's implementation of facial recognition -- not to mention wireless charging and the new TouchID -- will be well beyond our conceptualizations or current comprehension of it, and will leave the competition scratching its collective head saying "Damn, why didn't we think of that!?"
Not to mention the fact that, six months later, everyone will go,"Oh yeah, that was obvious."
Your analogy reminds me of people who are trying to use TouchID while wearing normal gloves, they just need to remove them. Unlike iris scanner, 3D sensing facial recognition does not require one to pick up the phone and look at the camera. It use a technology call depth sensing, which recognise any of your face features (not your eyes) from 3d angles.
"Lying" on the table. Laying is a transitive verb.