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Samsung Galaxy S6 Fingerprint Scanner is now as good as the iPhone 6 [VIDEO]

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Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge DSC08451

Apple introduced “Touch ID” on the iPhone 5s back in 2013. Not to be outdone by Apple, Samsung also introduced a fingerprint scanner on their next device. The problem with Samsung’s implementation was it didn’t work quite like the iPhone. You had to do a weird swiping motion instead of just holding your finger on the home button. The Samsung Galaxy S6 fixes this problem.

Setting up a new fingerprint on the Galaxy S6 is remarkably similar to how it’s done on the iPhone. You’re asked to press and remove your finger in a variety of orientations so it can learn your entire fingerprint. After successfully scanning your fingerprint it will ask you to set up a backup pin code, and then you’re all set. This is where it get’s much better.

All you have to do is press the home button once to wake up the phone and then leave your finger on the button and the lock screen will fade away. It’s very quick and definitely a lot easier than drawing a pattern or typing in a password or pin code. This is the way a fingerprint scanner should work, and we’re really glad Samsung fixed it. See it in action below.

Joe Fedewa
Ever since I flipped open my first phone I've been obsessed with the devices. I've dabbled in other platforms, but Android is where I feel most at home.

Watch the Samsung Galaxy S6 press conference in 60 seconds [VIDEO]

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40 Comments

  1. Does this have a secure enclave for the fingerprint?

  2. soooooo glad they got this right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    but then qualcom anounces their new tech!
    which is AWESOMER!
    sigh…still get the galaxy edge :)

  3. …with no SD card and a glass back, might as well copy that too and compare to the source material while we’re at it.

  4. Dude… Place your finger vertically with the damn home key!

    1. That’s an unnatural movement though.

  5. Never mind I found it. This should be written in the article. It is super important.
    *It also provides quick authentication and saves encrypted data in secure device storage.

  6. A fingerprint scanner home button should just work by you pressing the button. If it doesn’t quite catch it, just hold it longer or put it there again. It should unlock as soon as it recognizes your finger, not wait some arbitrary amount of time or require any other hoops to jump through.

  7. I think if anything, this will push Google to have a hardware button on the next Nexus, and then you’ll either see capacitive buttons come back, or more software keys added (like the search and menu buttons) or the removal of all other buttons but the home button.

    1. Google pushed to head away from home buttons.

      1. Android by default has a home button, and only one of them. They removed the Menu and Search buttons because they think people are idiots and can’t figure them out. Phones used to have 5 hard buttons below the screen, now the iPhone has 1 and Android has 3; pretty lame.

    2. Apparently the fingerprint scanner was to be where the M logo is just below the camera on the Nexus6. So if this is to be believed then it will be a scanner elsewhere .. Google wants softkeys on the front with no home button. I doubt we’ll see them change their minds on this.

    3. Perhaps they’ll incorporate a hardware button (may even be fingerprint scanner) onto the next Nexus but I’m still a little skeptical. Besides, phone manufacturers continue moronic practices like placing a single speaker on the bottom or back of a device. What you’re saying makes perfect sense logically but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Google completely forwent a hardware button altogether, despite the rising interest in smartphone fingerprint scanners. On a tangential note, anyone with Jens Kidman as their avatar gets a +1 in my book lol

      1. I learned Qualcomm has a sonic fingerprint scanner that doesn’t require a button: http://phandroid.com/2015/03/03/qualcomm-sense-id-fingerprint-scanner/

    4. No need for hardware buttons anymore.

      http://phandroid.com/2015/03/02/qualcomm-sense-id/

  8. Video isn’t working; the YouTube app says “can’t load link”. Moto X 2013 latest apps

  9. About damn time. Too bad for them I just bought an unlocked Moto X. If this thing is still good 9 months from now, I’ll consider Samsung again for my next phone, or maybe I’ll just wait for Qualcomm’s solution to start hitting.

  10. I smell a stinking fish. If you can’t beat ’em, MAKE ‘EM JOIN YOU. It could be that good old Sammy paid Apple to copy elements of its phone in an unnoticed agreement, since they are supplying the components for the iPhone and iPad. HTC already has this agreement. So basically, Apple is laughing all at to the bank, while we wonder why the M9 and S6 looks like the iPhone 6.

    1. The iPhone 6 design copied the Samsung Ativ S, and the HTC M7.

    2. The M9 looks like the M8, which looked like the M7. The iPhone 6 and S6 look very close, but not the HTC.

  11. Should’ve been the one on the S5 and Note 4 lol.

  12. NSA fingerprint scanner for the masses.

  13. The FP scanner on the Huawei beats both, no need to press anything, just touch the sensor, and its better placed too, is on the back of the phone, leaving more space on the front for screen real state. I think if google implemented this method on their next Nexus device, it will be a plus.

    1. Huawei doesn’t listen to patents. So no, its not better. Its theft. I’ll never buy a Chinese phone because they don’t play fair. Its why they don’t make it to US retail. They also have monster spyware.

      1. You got a point, but I was not talking about patents, i was talking about functionality.

    2. the FP scanner was originally intended to be on the Nexus6… read this http://www.techradar.com/us/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/how-apple-killed-the-nexus-6-s-fingerprint-scanner-1282063 and you’ll see how apple thwarted this becoming a reality on the Nexus phones.

      1. Yes I readed it b4, I do think is a BS article tho (no offense) because other have come up with FP scanner, that is not the only company.
        Hell, even qualcomm came up with a fps on their developer device. I just read they just came out with one even better than apple and Samsung combine

        1. Yes, and maybe the future Nexus phone will incorporate that one. But you have to remember that the Nexus6 hardware planning began last year at least 6-months before it was announced and at THAT TIME, this qualcomm FP thing you speak of wasn’t even available…

          1. I do get what you are saying, my point is that FP scanners where available from other sources, not just the company aquired by apple… Hell google has the power and resources to help develop one in conjunction with motorola at the time of the development of the nexus 6 (remember motorola was the 1st company to put a fps on a phone) all they need it to do was improve that.

          2. ideally from my perspective, google will incorporate the qualcomm FPS into the future Nexus.

    3. Yea but if you’re not holding the phone and the phone is laying on a table its not a better placement for it. To have the fingerprint scanner on the back is stupid imo.

      1. Well if you are so lazy that to unlock the phone is hard for you because is on the back, then Houston you have a problem.

        1. But if I have one hand occupied already for instance holding a baby. Picking up the phone and maneuvering the phone so I can place my finger on the back just to unlock brings me no benefit over having it on the front. What’s wrong with having it on the front other than a slight decrease in screen real estate if there’s a decrease at all. There are alot of components underneath the screen which is why we don’t see true edge to edge displays on almost all phones. So why not just place a little scanner on the front if only a logo (HTC) is going to cover the same spot.. The only reason LG button implementation was successful is due to the knock feature where you don’t always have to pick your phone up to use it. Buttons on the back are only good if you’re always holding your phone in your hand. That’s not always the case. So it being on the back is not the best design. Its not the worst but its definitely not a universally useful layout.

          1. Well that is your opinion and you are entitle to it, i dont share it, if you have your hands occupied with a baby, you shouldn’t be playing with a phone. To answer phonecalls, there is no need to unlock it, if you are doing something with the phone it is most likely you have it in your hand, not on a table, that is why is a hand held device, not a table top device.

          2. This is where we have to agree to disagree. I know plenty of people that want to check the time or check a quick text or check to see if there are any missed notifications and you don’t always want to pick your phone up just to do that. That’s why I love the knock feature on the G series and how Moto handles it. I don’t always nor a lot of people I know use the phone 100% of the time in hand. So with that we have to disagree. Hence the beauty of Android. We have choices.

          3. Hehehe, agree to disagree, point taken, still can check time without unlocking, even read notifications without unlocking, i think you are confusing awaking the phone from a blank screen and unlocking it. Most phones do that now days, if not, there are apps that will do it for you. Like you said, that is the beauty of android.
            Normally if your device does not have physical bottons on the front, there is usually a way to wake them up, like double tap or hand wave above it. It depends on the device manufacturer.

          4. Haha thats true. I must of had a brain fart lol… Touche sir..

        2. If you aren’t lazy, why aren’t you using a regular passcode? When fingerprint scanners came out on the iPhone, people were saying it’s for lazies.

          1. Dude, read all the comments.

  14. FP scanners are so last year — iris scanners are the new hot thing apparently. Imagine just looking at your phone to unlock ^^.

  15. S6 is an iPhone6 clone ,and glass on the back ? What idiot thought of that , small non removable battery and no SD card , would never buy that phone , if they make the Note 5 an iPhone clone of the iPhone 6s , I’m done with Samsung for good

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