Synaptics

A long time coming, Synaptics finally launched late last year the first ever commercial in-display fingerprint sensor. Jumping immediately on the opportunity to be different, Vivo equipped its new X20 Play UD with the never before seen feature. JerryRigEverything demonstrated how users didn’t have to worry about scratches on the display but had to be extra careful not to break the screen. But since that was broken anyway, the YouTube channel’s Zack Nelson got to work in tearing down the phone to reveal the sensor’s secrets.

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The first smartphone with an in-display fingerprint sensor, the Vivo X20 Plus UD, has launched, but even if you could buy it you probably don't want it. The new smartphone - or, more accurately, its biometric system, which is branded Clear ID - made headlines at CES 2018 earlier this month, as the first production device to bake the fingerprint security into the touchscreen itself.

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Vivo may not be one of the most well-known Chinese smartphone brands across the globe, but it is definitely one of the most adventurous. It was one of the first to make the world’s thinnest smartphone (back then only 0.7 cm thick) and was one of the first to jump on 6 GB of RAM and deca-core processors. And this week it will be making history again by becoming the first to use the in-display fingerprint sensor technology that should have been in the Galaxy S8 and iPhone X first.

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Human Interface Device (HID) expert Synaptics might be grasping at straws to salvage what it can from its much-delayed in-display fingerprint sensor. It recently announced that the sensor, the Clear ID FS9500, has gone into mass production with one of the five Tier 1 smartphone makers in the world. Not leaving much time for a guessing game, Synaptics has finally revealed who that OEM is, and it is none other than Vivo who, just a few months ago, flaunted Qualcomm’s ultrasonic fingerprint sensor instead.

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Too late the hero perhaps? Synaptics has just proudly announced that its Clear ID FS9500, which is perhaps the world’s first commercial in-display fingerprint scanner, has already started production. More than a year too late for it to do any good for the likes of Samsung and Apple. Synaptics doesn’t seem to be worried, however, as that same announcement reveals that the mass production is for a “Tier 1 OEM”. So let the guessing game begin!

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Today we're hearing out a rather worrying vulnerability in a large range of HP notebooks. Apparently, these notebooks came with a deactivated keylogger installed, which is enough to give pretty much anyone pause. The good news, however, is that HP has worked quickly in solving the issue, and beyond that, there's little chance of anyone actually being affected by this vulnerability.

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When rumors of the Galaxy S8’s nearly all-screen design surfaced, speculation about the new home of the fingerprint sensor was similarly raised. Either it would be removed completely, which would be a regression of more than two years of progress, relocated to the back ala LG, or some other new technology. That last one almost seemed most likely, drumming up hype about the smartphone. Alas, the Galaxy S8 is, instead, left with an oddly-placed rear sensor, because that much hyped on-screen fingerprint scanning technology wouldn’t make it in time.

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We have been hearing a lot of rumors about the coming Galaxy S8 smartphone and one of the more interesting and disturbing of them is that the smartphone will ditch the physical home button and have a display with no bezel. That home button was where the fingerprint sensor was located in previous Galaxy smartphones leaving many wondering how Samsung would pull that off. Synaptics has just announced a slick new FS9100 optical fingerprint sensor that might just be how Samsung will ditch that home button.

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Cars and trucks of all sorts might allow you to ditch your keys altogether if Synaptics has anything to say about it. The folks at Synaptics have announced that they'll soon be bringing fingerprint sensors to your vehicle as an expansion to their Natural ID brand. Not directly to your vehicle - not direct to you - but through car manufacturers who will implement the sensors in vehicles over the next few years. You'll be using these fingerprint sensors for a variety of purposes sooner than later.

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OK, they're not actually calling it "Force Touch, which could land them in a heap of legal trouble. Formally, it's called "ClearForce force sensing and haptic feedback" but the idea is the same. Developed by Synaptics, the controller technology allows users to apply varying levels of pressure on a press gesture to increase the number of available actions. Now Synaptics is teaming up with automotive supplier Valeo to bring that technology to the touchscreens and dashboards of the smart cars of the future.

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Would you like your vehicle to let you enter with a fingerprint and have settings ready for you when you open the door? How about a vehicle that starts only when your finger touches the ignition? The folks at Synaptics have revealed a set of touch-based technology products for vehicles, showing off their touchscreen technology for smart screen controllers as well as biometric touchpads (and fingerprint readers) for your vehicle's ignition and car handle.

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Apple introduced the idea of a new way of interacting with touch gestures, first with Force Touch and then with 3D Touch on the new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. Naturally, it will become the next trendy technology that everyone will vie for. Luckily for everyone else, Synaptics has come out with some new touch controllers that could give smartphones like those running on Android exactly that. Calling it ClearForce, Synapitics is introducing a new way to interact with smartphones and expanding the current gesture beyond the current tap, swipe, and pinch.

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