Hi! Welcome to another Android Pitstop video.
The smartphone industry is adding different methods to unlock your phone out of which facial recognition is relatively new.
Face unlocking debuted in Galaxy Nexus, which came along with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich in 2012 it just used a front-facing camera due to which it was not very secure and neither was it marketed as a major flagship feature.
But as he has went by, facial recognition got so much better and companies like Apple started marketing it as a flagship feature claiming that it will be more efficient than the fingerprint scanner or touch ID.
In this video we look into how exactly facial recognition works and compare the systems employed in three different phones.
The face ID in iPhone X, face unlock in Oneplus 5T and the facial recognition with iris scanner in Galaxy phones.
So without further ado, let's get right into it!
Before jumping into the comparisons we should know how exactly facial recognition systems work.
Most systems work by creating patterns on the face and then identifying them just mimicking the fusiform face area in the human brain.
The system divides the face into visible landmarks called nodal points like eyes nose and mouth.
It captures the light emitting from its own light-emitting diode which touches the face and reflects back are the natural light which reflects from your face and then identifies these nodal point by colors.
For example, it can identify eyes with a combination of black and white colors and if any nodal point is missing the system won't work.
This is the reason why companies claim that face ID won't work if you're sleeping or not looking at it.
Further, the algorithm uses complex techniques to identify whether the light is receiving from the nodal points are natural light
or the light emitted from its own source so that it cannot be tricked by showing other sources which displays your face
The algorithm also calculates the time taken for light to travel from each nodal point to the sensor.
For example if your eyes and nose are two different nodal points the time taken for light to reach from your nose would be less than that of the time taken for light to reach from your eyes
This way, the system would be able to identify whether it is looking at a three-dimensional surface and hence cannot be fooled with the photographs.
Once a person calibrates his face to the facial recognition system the system gets information from different nodal points and combines them to create a unique face code or face print.
While validating any face it tries to match the face print of that face with the calibrated one to unlock your phone with some margin of error.
Now using these systems have five major problems.
The aging problem happens as there are changes in features of the face due to which the algorithm may not be able to recognize the same calibrated face in just a matter of few days.
To avoid this, algorithms nowadays use rigid tissues of the face as nodal points which won't change as time goes by.
The same applies for emotions also as algorithms use those facial features which won't change during any emotions as nodal points.
This somewhat ensures that the algorithm recognizes your face whether you are crying at it or smiling at it .
The problem of illumination happens for those systems which use only the front-facing camera like the Oneplus 5T as they depend on external light sources and cannot be used in darkness.
This problem is solved by some systems like the one in iPhone X by using their own light sources and sensing the same once it gets reflected back from the nodal points.
Regarding the position problem if the system makes a 2-dimensional face print of the calibrated face it may be possible that the face may never come at the same position and angle as the calibrated one.
To solve this while calibrating any face the system creates a 3d model of the face being calibrated so that it can evaluate the same at any angle and at any position.
Last but not the least the twin problem is basically the problem that any identical twin can trick the system and unlock your phone.
The samsung's iris scanner solves this problem by using a special sensor to identify the patterns existing in human eyes.
This is more secure than the fingerprint scanner as each human iris has a distinct pattern and even the left eye and the right eye of the same person have different patterns.
The twin problem is pretty much unsolved in other facial recognition systems which means that these systems can be fooled by your doppelganger.
Having discussed about how facial recognition works let's compare the systems employed in three different phones.
To compare the system, we are going to score them in three different aspects.
Face unlock has its own pros and cons when it comes to usability.
Since there is no need to have a direct contact with the device it doesn't matter if your hands are wet unlike the fingerprint scanner.
But the disadvantage lies in the fact that every time you have to unlock the device you have to pick up the device and hold it straight on to your face.
Usability vise, all the three devices face unlock is worse than the fingerprint scanner.
When it comes to speed of unlock there is no question about who's the winner.
I pointed towards you, Nana.
BAAMMMMM!! It's a thing!
The Samsung Galaxy S8 and iPhone X have identical unlock times.
But the swipe up gesture after the unlock makes the whole process in the iPhone X insanely slow and puts it at the last position.
Security is the most important factor in this comparison.
Oneplus 5T uses a hundred nodal point verification using only its front facing camera which is the least secure among these three.
Oneplus themselves have addressed this problem and they don't let users use face unlock for their payments.
The iPhone X has an incredibly complex system which uses a
30,000 nodal point system to evaluate the unlock.
It also has a dedicated core in the processor to do all the work.
But it has been proven that the twin problem always exists in the iPhone X.
Even Samsung's iris scanner can be tricked but that requires highly sophisticated and costly models.
With security being the most important parameter in this comparison,
it gives the Samsung's iris scanner a edge over the other two.
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