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Funny time to announce a phone with a fingerprint sensor - soon after it comes out, it will get cold outside and people will realize that they need to take off

Funny time to announce a phone with a fingerprint sensor - soon after it comes out, it will get cold outside and people will realize that they need to take off their gloves in order to use the fingerprint sensor.

rb2k_ 13y ago
Or a capacitive touchscreen unless they buy special gloves...
- btbuildem 13y ago
  Leather gloves work just fine, in my experience.
- danieldk 13y ago
  Or a Nokia Lumia ;). (Edit: Referring to the fact that the touchscreen on some Lumias can be used with gloves.)
corresation 13y ago
If it's like the vast majority of fingerprint implementations it will be a "use either method" mechanism.
- w1ntermute 13y ago
  And so the people who are currently not using a lock screen because it's too much trouble are going to instead set up their phones so that they have to either use their fingerprint or enter a password, based on whether they have gloves on? I don't think so. They'll probably just turn this off and use the swipe-to-unlock method (which is quite confusing and unintuitive in iOS 7, by the way: http://cdn.andrewmunsell.com/img/articles/ios7-design/xlock.jpg.pagespeed.ic.gHT9xL_ajP.webp http://cdn.andrewmunsell.com/img/articles/ios7-design/xlock....).
  - corresation 13y ago
    either use their fingerprint or enter a password Yes. Absolutely. How is this so controversial? My laptop lets me enter a password, or use a fingerscan. 99% of the time I use a fingerscan, but I have had it malfunction (the driver died or something) in which case I used the password. I very much imagine the iPhone 5S will try to drive a similar use. It's "too much trouble" with a screen code when you have to do it every single time you grab your device. If you have a fingerprint alternative for the overwhelming majority of cases, yes it would make security more likely.
    - w1ntermute 13y ago
      > Yes. Absolutely. How is this so controversial? You clearly don't understand the target audience. An either-or setup for unlocking their phone is already way too complicated, especially for the average iPhone user. Steve Jobs would have never allowed such a gimmicky feature.
      - corresation 13y ago
        You are being overly cynical. The notion that a screenlock is onerous is entirely based upon the idea that doing it every time you want to use your device quickly becomes a major PITA: I despise the fact that I have to do a screen pattern over and over and over again, and honestly would disable it if I weren't forced to keep it on by an ActiveSync policy. If I could bypass it with a quick fingerprint scan that would be brilliant, and that is what Apple is going for. I'm going to guess they do okay in the whole glove situation.
ant512 13y ago
There's that whole pesky touch screen, too!
- w1ntermute 13y ago
  Actually, there are gloves that you can get that let you use your phone with them on. So no, it's not the same thing.
  - ant512 13y ago
    I've got a couple of pairs of fingerless gloves...
potatolicious 13y ago
What corresation said. It's also as if there are vast, vast, vast parts of the world where gloves are not required wear during the winter...
- w1ntermute 13y ago
  Because those are the parts of the world where Apple makes most of its sales. Oh wait, no, outside of NA, EU, and Japan, their marketshare is now minuscule compared to Android. But wait, there's a new "cheap" iPhone that's targeted at those other markets, right? Oh nevermind, that one doesn't have a fingerprint sensor.
  - potatolicious 13y ago
    ... you realize there are large parts of the US itself where gloves aren't a thing during winter time, right? Shit, I grew up above the 49th parallel and didn't wear gloves regularly throughout the year. The world isn't the northeast.
    - w1ntermute 13y ago
      When did I ever say that the world was the northeast? I'm not from the northeast, nor have I even spent an extended amount of time there.

rb2k_ 13y ago

Or a capacitive touchscreen unless they buy special gloves...

btbuildem 13y ago
Leather gloves work just fine, in my experience.
danieldk 13y ago
Or a Nokia Lumia ;). (Edit: Referring to the fact that the touchscreen on some Lumias can be used with gloves.)

corresation 13y ago

If it's like the vast majority of fingerprint implementations it will be a "use either method" mechanism.

w1ntermute 13y ago
And so the people who are currently not using a lock screen because it's too much trouble are going to instead set up their phones so that they have to either use their fingerprint or enter a password, based on whether they have gloves on? I don't think so. They'll probably just turn this off and use the swipe-to-unlock method (which is quite confusing and unintuitive in iOS 7, by the way: http://cdn.andrewmunsell.com/img/articles/ios7-design/xlock.jpg.pagespeed.ic.gHT9xL_ajP.webp http://cdn.andrewmunsell.com/img/articles/ios7-design/xlock....).
- corresation 13y ago
  either use their fingerprint or enter a password Yes. Absolutely. How is this so controversial? My laptop lets me enter a password, or use a fingerscan. 99% of the time I use a fingerscan, but I have had it malfunction (the driver died or something) in which case I used the password. I very much imagine the iPhone 5S will try to drive a similar use. It's "too much trouble" with a screen code when you have to do it every single time you grab your device. If you have a fingerprint alternative for the overwhelming majority of cases, yes it would make security more likely.
  - w1ntermute 13y ago
    > Yes. Absolutely. How is this so controversial? You clearly don't understand the target audience. An either-or setup for unlocking their phone is already way too complicated, especially for the average iPhone user. Steve Jobs would have never allowed such a gimmicky feature.
    - corresation 13y ago
      You are being overly cynical. The notion that a screenlock is onerous is entirely based upon the idea that doing it every time you want to use your device quickly becomes a major PITA: I despise the fact that I have to do a screen pattern over and over and over again, and honestly would disable it if I weren't forced to keep it on by an ActiveSync policy. If I could bypass it with a quick fingerprint scan that would be brilliant, and that is what Apple is going for. I'm going to guess they do okay in the whole glove situation.

ant512 13y ago

There's that whole pesky touch screen, too!

w1ntermute 13y ago
Actually, there are gloves that you can get that let you use your phone with them on. So no, it's not the same thing.
- ant512 13y ago
  I've got a couple of pairs of fingerless gloves...

potatolicious 13y ago

What corresation said. It's also as if there are vast, vast, vast parts of the world where gloves are not required wear during the winter...

w1ntermute 13y ago
Because those are the parts of the world where Apple makes most of its sales. Oh wait, no, outside of NA, EU, and Japan, their marketshare is now minuscule compared to Android. But wait, there's a new "cheap" iPhone that's targeted at those other markets, right? Oh nevermind, that one doesn't have a fingerprint sensor.
- potatolicious 13y ago
  ... you realize there are large parts of the US itself where gloves aren't a thing during winter time, right? Shit, I grew up above the 49th parallel and didn't wear gloves regularly throughout the year. The world isn't the northeast.
  - w1ntermute 13y ago
    When did I ever say that the world was the northeast? I'm not from the northeast, nor have I even spent an extended amount of time there.