Vivo doesn’t have any new products to announce at MWC this year; since it already stole the show with the first under-display fingerprint scanner back at CES. However, the company is showing off the Vivo Apex concept device that is the logical extension of the Vivo X20 Plus UD.
The existing Synaptics made under-display fingerprint scanner has a very limited amount of space in which it can read a print. A limitation that requires users to place their fingers over an on-screen icon in order to use the feature. The Apex takes this one step further by extending the readable area to cover roughly a third of the display; allowing users more freedom in using biometric authentication.
This new technology also makes use of the extra readable space by allowing two people to authenticate their fingerprints at the same time. It’s difficult to say how this feature would be useful to the average person, but there’s a certain cyberpunk feeling in knowing that it can be done.
Apex is also taking on the problem of the iPhone X camera notch. Companies have been trying to figure out a way to maximise screen space while still retaining the front facing camera. Vivo is testing the idea of a pop up camera module that hides away when not in use.
It takes a little extra time to get the camera going, but that is apparently the cost of being able to use all of the front of the device as a display.
Vivo is not planning on selling the Apex at any point; instead, it looks to be testing the reaction to its technology solutions. Which isn’t too bad of an idea. After all, that’s what automotive industry has been doing all this time.
[Source: The Verge]
