Pixel 4 Face Unlock: How Google's implementation might be better than Face ID

[Android Central]( [Pixel 4 Face Unlock vs. Apple Face ID: Here's how they stack up]( There are some substantial differences in the hardware and the methods that Google is using for face unlock on the Pixel 4. Google has released a teaser video for the Pixel 4 that confirms two of its most widely speculated features — face unlock and air gestures. It's confirmed that these new features are powered by something the company is calling "Motion Sense," facilitated by a motion-sensing radar called Soli. Google has shown us how the Soli Sensor will do neat tricks in the Pixel 4, and while waving your hand like a Jedi to change what song is playing is pretty self-explanatory (and honestly, not that exciting), using it in tandem with dedicated hardware to unlock your phone with your face is something we haven't seen before. In short, there's a lot to be excited about. There sure are a lot of sensors tucked away in that top bezel. The Pixel 4's Face Unlock feature is Google's take on Face ID for Android, so it's interesting to see how the two technologies stack up. First up, a refresher on how Face ID works: using a special LED that "washes" your face in infrared and near-infrared light, along with a special component that projects a matrix of contrasting IR "dots" on your face, cameras collect everything in front of it and build a 3D map. This map is then converted into a special token based on the shapes and the token is used to check against the data stored inside a secure element in the phone. If the two signatures match, the phone unlocks. That means the token can do more than unlock your phone, and Google says the facial mapping from the Pixel 4 will also be able to authenticate you as needed, too. So far, Face ID and Google's facial unlocking as seen on the Pixel 4 seem to be very much the same animal. A quick look at the hardware, though, and we see Google has integrated a lot more into that bezel — and it's all courtesy of the Soli Sensor. Saying that the Soli Sensor is tightly integrated with facial unlocking and gesture recognition isn't just speculation. Google makes it very clear that the two aren't separate — the Soli chip is a major component of the whole system. Basically, as you reach for the Pixel 4, Soli will proactively turn on the facial unlock sensors, allowing the device to authenticate your features in one smooth motion. This works because of what Soli is — a small and power-efficient RADAR transceiver that has a very fine resolution. That means it can detect a thing that's moving and notice very fine details in real-time versus being able to detect a thing that's very fast with less detail. We've seen Soli in action and it can easily and reliably detect the slightest tapping of a finger, or the movement of fingers acting as if they're turning a miniature dial or knob. Another big difference between Apple and Google's implementation of 3D facial recognition is that Google is using two face unlock IR cameras. These cameras are what reads the projected IR matrix and turns the contours and curves into a secure token. Apple only uses one of these cameras in Face ID. There could be several reasons for this: Apple is using better parts, Google is building a stereo image, or maybe a second sensor is needed so that the phone can work when turned 180-degrees on its head. Likely, all three of these things are true. It also solves the issue of unlocking the phone while it's sitting on a table, something Face ID still struggles with. Google calls these "face unlock IR cameras" but they are also used for any motion recognition the Pixel 4 will support. To cover everything happening in front of the phone, having a sensor on each side makes perfect sense. You'll never be able to be perfectly aligned in the front dead center of a camera on your phone when you wave your hand to perform an action. A single infrared camera is able to pick up most of your motions, no matter how far away from center they may be, but adding a second can do a lot to make the system more reliable. And unless it's reliable, Google's Motion Sense is nothing more than a gimmick. Two cameras can make a stereoscopic view of a facial map and collect a lot more data, or they can work with each other to double-check for accuracy, making facial unlocking faster and less able to be fooled. Having two cameras also means that when the system starts "looking" for your face to see if it should prepare to unlock, it can do so much earlier because it doesn't have to wait for your face to be closer to the center. And finally, we have Motion Sense. Google says that the new Motion Sense feature of the Pixel 4 will be able to "skip songs, snooze alarms, and silence phone calls, just by waving your hand", Admittedly, that's pretty cool but recognizing a waving hand isn't something we haven't seen before. Besides the LG G8, we can go back to the Moto X to see hand gestures in action. Using a set of sensors placed in the front of the phone, a simple wave of the have was recognized even when the screen was off. Motion Sense won't be using the hardware in the Pixel 4 to its full extent because there is no need to draw a three-dimensional map of your hand each time to want to use it. But it will be using the Soli chip and some smart algorithms. That means what we've seen so far from Google is probably only the beginning. Team Android Central Copyright 2018 Android Central 360 Central Ave #800 St. Petersburg, FL 33701 [Privacy Policy]( | [Unsubscribe](