Q: *Don't almost _all_ Android smartphones have choice of 3 unlock methods?
a. pin
b. fingerprint
c. face

It's simply a question of choice.
What choices exist on most reasonably current (Android 10+) Android phones.

This is _not_ a question on the _merits_ of whether you or I like unlock via
pin versus fingerprint versus face unlocking (as I don't need any of them).

Nor is this a question of which type is more or less secure than the other
(unless you live in the slums, someone snatching your phone isn't an issue).

This is simply a question of functionality available on Android smartphones.
Q: *Don't almost _all_ Android 10+ phones already have all 3 unlock types?*
--
Mine does.

Robin Goodfellow <Ancient-of-Days@Heaven.Net> wrote:

> Don't almost _all_ Android smartphones have choice of 3 unlock
> methods?
>
> a. pin
> b. fingerprint
> c. face
d. pattern
e. smart lock:
on-body detection
trusted places
trusted devices
trusted face (maybe your c choice)
trusted voice
f. iris scanner
g. maybe more

VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> asked
>> Don't almost _all_ Android smartphones have choice of 3 unlock
>> methods?
>>
>> a. pin
>> b. fingerprint
>> c. face
> d. pattern
> e. smart lock:
> on-body detection
> trusted places
> trusted devices
> trusted face (maybe your c choice)
> trusted voice
> f. iris scanner
> g. maybe more

Wow. Who knew? Not me!
Since I don't use any unlock mechanism, I didn't realize there are so many.

The sheer number may make the answer to the question difficult to ascertain.

But let's try...
Of those, which do most recent Androids have (let's say Android 10+ or so)?

Robin Goodfellow <Ancient-of-Days@Heaven.Net> wrote:

> VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> asked
>>> Don't almost _all_ Android smartphones have choice of 3 unlock
>>> methods?
>>>
>>> a. pin
>>> b. fingerprint
>>> c. face
>> d. pattern
>> e. smart lock:
>> on-body detection
>> trusted places
>> trusted devices
>> trusted face (maybe your c choice)
>> trusted voice
>> f. iris scanner
>> g. maybe more
>
> Wow. Who knew? Not me!
> Since I don't use any unlock mechanism, I didn't realize there are so many.
>
> The sheer number may make the answer to the question difficult to ascertain.
>
> But let's try...
> Of those, which do most recent Androids have (let's say Android 10+ or so)?

Well, depending on far you go back, pin and pattern are probably on most
Android devices (of any age). Fingerprinting required more hardware,
and iris scanning, voice recognition, face recognition required more
hardware (or better hardware) along with more code. The only input that
I remember ever seeing on all phones that I've had going back many years
was a PIN (password) and pattern.

Robin Goodfellow wrote:

> Q: *Don't almost _all_ Android smartphones have choice of 3 unlock methods?
> a. pin
> b. fingerprint
> c. face

Don't think face unlock is *that* common as it requires depth capture to avoid
being faked by a photo of your face, doesn't it? Seem to remember google only
had the "radar" sensor on the Pixel4?

In article <itlerrFfjlvU1@mid.individual.net>, Andy Burns
<usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:

>
> > Q: *Don't almost _all_ Android smartphones have choice of 3 unlock methods?
> > a. pin
> > b. fingerprint
> > c. face
>
> Don't think face unlock is *that* common as it requires depth capture to
> avoid
> being faked by a photo of your face, doesn't it? Seem to remember google
> only
> had the "radar" sensor on the Pixel4?

it did, although it wasn't using radar.

face id is extremely common on iphones, however.

nospam wrote:

> Andy Burns wrote:
>
>> Seem to remember google only had the "radar" sensor on the Pixel4?
>
> it did, although it wasn't using radar.

Well, 60 GHz sensor, whatever you want to call it.

> face id is extremely common on iphones, however.

Don't they use infrared dots?

In article <itlg8sFfsllU1@mid.individual.net>, Andy Burns
<usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:

>
> >
> >> Seem to remember google only had the "radar" sensor on the Pixel4?
> >
> > it did, although it wasn't using radar.
>
> Well, 60 GHz sensor, whatever you want to call it.

the radar sensor was intended for detecting motion, so you could wave
your hand in front of the phone and cause something to happen, which
turned out to be not particularly useful.

it did detect that someone was about to pick up the phone, at which
point it activated the face unlock hardware to be ready to scan, but
that's the extent of the radar. an accelerometer would have also
worked.

its face unlock had a dot projector, like apple does.

<https://www.androidcentral.com/pixel-4-face-unlock-actually-work>

> > face id is extremely common on iphones, however.
>
> Don't they use infrared dots?

yes.

both systems are very similar and comparable in effectiveness.

On 10/23/2021 8:32 PM, Robin Goodfellow wrote:
> Q: *Don't almost _all_ Android smartphones have choice of 3 unlock methods?
> a. pin
> b. fingerprint
> c. face
>
> It's simply a question of choice.
> What choices exist on most reasonably current (Android 10+) Android phones.
>
> This is _not_ a question on the _merits_ of whether you or I like unlock via
> pin versus fingerprint versus face unlocking (as I don't need any of them).
>
> Nor is this a question of which type is more or less secure than the other
> (unless you live in the slums, someone snatching your phone isn't an issue).
>
> This is simply a question of functionality available on Android smartphones.
> Q: *Don't almost _all_ Android 10+ phones already have all 3 unlock types?*
>

I can only answer about my now-ancient Pixel 3 which offers pin, pattern
and fingerprint. No face unlock here. I have a Pixel 6 Pro coming some day
soon (I hope) and don't really know if it has face unlock or not. Pixel 4
apparently did.

--
Bodger's Dictum: Artifical intelligence
can never overcome natural stupidity.

On 24/10/2021 22:08, John McGaw wrote:
> I have a Pixel 6 Pro coming some
> day soon (I hope) and don't really know if it has face unlock or not.

It does not.

nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> asked
> both systems are very similar and comparable in effectiveness.

The technical question is which are the most common unlock methods.

Given some of the unlock mechanisms are clever marketing gimmicks,
it doesn't really matter how 'effective' one gimmick is over another.

Even with face unlock being the most gimmicky of all, my _free_ Samsung has
it, so face id isn't all that interesting as marketing gimmicks go anyway.

Despite nospam's attempts to always claim to the death that Apple's gimmicks
are better'n everyone else's gimmicks, an Apple gimmick is just as worthless
as Google copying Apple's worthless gimmick makes that very same gimmick.

Back to the technical question, the question is which unlock is most common?

On Sun, 24 Oct 2021 17:08:51 -0400, John McGaw wrote:

> I can only answer about my now-ancient Pixel 3

Don't throw your Pixel 3 away yet. It just upgraded to Android 12.
Unfortunately, this means no more monthly security updates, but it's
still good, right?

--
s|b

On 10/29/2021 01:15 PM, s|b wrote:
> On Sun, 24 Oct 2021 17:08:51 -0400, John McGaw wrote:
>
>> I can only answer about my now-ancient Pixel 3
>
> Don't throw your Pixel 3 away yet. It just upgraded to Android 12.
> Unfortunately, this means no more monthly security updates, but it's
> still good, right?

I'm still happy with my Pixel 2. The specs on newer ones don't seem
worth paying for, even the tele camera which I REALLY want. I can't
imagine why they added another wide-angle camera -- the 'normal' one
defaults to 'wide', which is fine as long as I don't have any vertical
parallel lines in a shot.

--
Cheers, Bev
There is no such thing as a foolproof device
because fools are so ingenious.

On 10/29/2021 4:15 PM, s|b wrote:
> On Sun, 24 Oct 2021 17:08:51 -0400, John McGaw wrote:
>
>> I can only answer about my now-ancient Pixel 3
>
> Don't throw your Pixel 3 away yet. It just upgraded to Android 12.
> Unfortunately, this means no more monthly security updates, but it's
> still good, right?
>

I never throw away phones. I still have them going back to flip and
candy-bar types through several generations of Google phones. I upgraded my
Pixel 3 to Android 12 pretty much on the day it was released. It is handy
when I'm traveling overseas to take two phones, just in case, and
occasionally I install a local SIM in the older phone even though my
provider gives (well sells) me overseas roaming. For some reason the
presence of the extra phone is reassuring when hiking in the boonies.

--
Bodger's Dictum: Artifical intelligence
can never overcome natural stupidity.

John McGaw wrote:

> s|b wrote:
>
>> Don't throw your Pixel 3 away yet. It just upgraded to Android 12.
>
> I never throw away phones. I still have them going back to flip and candy-bar
> types through several generations of Google phones.

I just dug out my Nexus One (along with its pogo dock) half expected it not to
take any charge after several years, but it charged ok and booted straight up,
CyanogenMod v9 (android 4.0.4 I think) it's not very happy loading current web
pages or updating the Play store data ... still feels like a cool device though.