What you see here is a prototype of Pixel 2 really special, as it is equipped with release system through iris recognition. We must therefore take a step back in time by four to five years because in those times Google had conducted experiments to verify the effectiveness of this specific security tool.
It is certainly not surprising that a smartphone manufacturer works on the implementation of a certain feature without however following it up: the example shown by Internal Archive on Twitter it is nothing more than a unit under test that lacks several features among other things. There are in fact the IR LED and the front camera with IR filter there is no 8MP sensor for taking selfies.
Inside the Pixel 2 is an app named IrisDemo which allows you to register the irises by placing the eyes inside two circles shown on the screen. The experimentation was not followed up, as we know, since on Pixel 4 and 4 XL the Soli radar then abandoned on later models until with Pixel 7 and 7 Pro a facial recognition system made its debut which, however, can only be used to unlock the smartphone and not to access apps protected by biometric authentication or to make payments.
If you have Pixel 7 or Pixel 7 Pro, you can use face unlock to unlock your phone.
Face unlock cannot be used on the Pixel 7 or Pixel 7 Pro to log in to apps or to make payments. For these tasks, you can use fingerprint and / or PIN unlock, strong patterns or passwords.
Who in the past has used the recognition of the iris was Samsung which introduced the functionality – and related technology – to the Galaxy S8 in 2017. However, it was seen that the results were not entirely satisfactory: with the Galaxy S9, Samsung opted for a hybrid system that made use of side-by-side iris recognition to that of the face.
Google Pixel 2 is available online from Amazon Marketplace at 174 euros. (updated October 24, 2022, 10:50 am)
