Look who’s the first smartphone manufacturer to use eye-based biometric technology on a smartphone – it’s ZTE of course. ZTE recently announced its next flagship smartphone, the Grand S3 that may not look like much in terms of specs, but its unique security feature makes it stand out in a crowded room of Android smartphones.
In terms of specs, the ZTE Grand S3 isn’t much – it features a 5.5” Full HD display and is powered by a 2.5GHz Snapdragon 801 processor with 3GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage. Compared to the flagships of this year, that’s nothing much at all.
Other specs include 16MP rear camera with dual-LED flash, 8MP front camera, LTE connectivity, 3100mAh battery, Dolby Sound, and runs on Android 4.4 KitKat out of the box.
As for the eye-based biometric security, it’s called the Eyeprint ID and is developed by EyeVerify. Like fingerprint sensors on current smartphones, it can be used to unlock the device, as well as for authorising mobile payments and to access secure content.
Sadly though, while it’s more secure than fingerprint sensors, it’s slower and has other flaws too. Eyeprint ID relies on the 8MP front facing camera without LED flash, so using it under low-light conditions would be rather challenging. ZTE says that they will implement Eyeprint ID on all of its upcoming Grand series of smartphones, so let’s hope that this means that they will be working hard to improve things.
The ZTE Grand S3 is available in China for 2,999 Chinese Yuan – that’s about RM1,735. Will you pay that kind of money for a phone with eye-based security system?
(Source: GSMArena)
