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The removal of Touch ID is this year’s disappearing headphone jack

JUST like the removal of the headphone jack last year, Apple fans are lining up to mourn the loss of a simple feature on the iPhone X.

Nick WhighamNick Whigham
@NWWHIGHAM
3 min read
September 13, 2017 - 11:02AM
Hands on with the iPhone X

APPLE’S biggest annual product event is in the books for another year, but it certainly didn’t go off without a hitch.

The world was introduced to a new range of iPhones, Apple Watches, and a next generation Apple TV. Some fans are happy, while others are a little bummed about the death of old features like Touch ID.

For those trying to watch the launch event on non Apple devices, it got off to a rocky start. It’s the first year Apple has offered support for the stream on non Apple devices by agreeing to support it on Window’s Edge browser. However for some users that promise was quickly dashed as they experienced difficulty tying to get it to work.

Once the show was well and truly underway, the company spruiked its new technology like an excited kid on Christmas morning. But it was the most notable new change that also brought the event’s most awkward onstage moment.

When Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering tried to demonstrate how users can now unlock their iPhone with their face, it didn’t go according to plan.

“Here is iPhone X,” he announced. “Now, unlocking it is as easy as looking at it and swiping up ...” he trailed off. “You know, let’s try that again,” he muttered before going to the “back up” option as the crowd wriggled in their seats.

To be fair, with an event like this, there is always going to be hiccups and when news.com.au got its hands on the device at the event in California, we were unable to set up Face ID to give it our own test drive.

Apple says the technology will continually learn your face and will still work if you put on glasses, wear a hat or grow a beard. And with the device not shipping until November 3, the company still has time to iron out any kinks.

Samsung rolled out the facial recognition feature the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone last year, and again in its Galaxy S8 handset this year. While Samsung said it was not to be relied upon for tight security applications one user discovered he was able to bypass the security feature by holding up a photo to the front-facing camera.

Apple has had extra time to learn from Samsung’s mistakes and has rolled out a more sophisticated version of facial recognition, but it remains to be seen just how robust the company’s version of the technology is.

One journalist even suggested the demo fail during the product launch had a negative impact on Apple’s share price this morning.

FANS LAMENT LOSS OF TOUCH ID

Apple’s Face ID is a combination of 2D imaging with behavioural biometrics provided by the machine learning algorithms leveraging the data from the dot projector and infrared camera. It will incorporate the use of 3D sensors, neural networks and specific hardware built for a set of machine learning algorithms that can detect a user’s face. The feature will also allow authorisation though facial recognition for mobile payments, but is the new biometric feature more secure?

Bojan Simic is the chief technology officer for biometric security company HYPR and believes the technology is certainly ready to deployed in smartphones.

“The banking and payment industries have been deploying face recognition technologies for years. When Apple released Touch ID there were similar missteps with usage but consumers quickly adjusted and today people use Touch ID over 80 times per day on average,” he told news.com.au.

There are also practical benefits to replacing Touch ID with Face ID, he pointed out.

“The camera is much more reliable than the fingerprint sensor. For example, my fingerprint sensor doesn’t work after washing dishes or if I’m wearing gloves whereas my face or voice will.”

Despite the advantages, some people think they will miss being able to unlock their iPhone with their thumbprint. Just like the removal of the headphone jack last year, Apple fans are lining up to mourn the loss of the simple Touch ID feature.

Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing at Apple, Philip Schiller, introduces the iPhone X during this morning’s media event at Apple's new headquarters in Cupertino, California. Picture: Josh Edelson
Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing at Apple, Philip Schiller, introduces the iPhone X during this morning’s media event at Apple's new headquarters in Cupertino, California. Picture: Josh Edelson

Originally published as The removal of Touch ID is this year’s disappearing headphone jack

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Original URL: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/technology/smartphones/the-removal-of-touch-id-is-this-years-disappearing-headphone-jack/news-story/aed2762f808158e84c0f200161dd3010