Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus Review: A $1,000 Smartphone With Compromises

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Brian Chen wrote for The New York Times about Samsung Galaxy S10,a $1,000 Smartphone With Compromises.

My bumpy experience with the print sensor firmed up one conclusion: Face recognition is a more convenient method for unlocking phones, and Samsung is behind Apple in this area.

There are some cons to using FaceID but the pros far outweigh these annoyances.

I found that the fingerprint reader on Samsung’s Galaxy S10 Plus was an improvement over past models. But the device’s biometrics over all were still weaker than the features on Apple’s iPhone, Samsung’s biggest rival.

That’s the general feedback that I get from Android users I know. They often end up using the passcode because it’s faster that way.

Drew Blackard, a director of product marketing at the company, said that based on customer feedback, the fingerprint sensor was the most popular method for unlocking devices. As a result, the company focused on improving that feature.

He added that Samsung was studying face recognition and had made it more difficult to trick the scanner with a photo of a person’s face. “Is it an area that we’re continuing to look at? The answer is: Of course,” Mr. Blackard said.

I have to say Samsung’s decision to focus on fingerprint sensing instead of upgrading its face scanner is not particularly satisfying. User feedback isn’t generally an ideal way to design security features. After all, many people also enjoy using the same weak passwords across all their internet accounts.

Perhaps the fingerprint reader is more popular because the face recognition method doesn’t quite work as expected?

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