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Did you know: Nexus 6 was supposed to have a fingerprint sensor, but it was removed in the last minute

posted by Victor H. / Jan 26, 2015, 9:43 AM

Did you know: Nexus 6 was supposed to have a fingerprint sensor, but it was removed in the last minute

We've already seen evidence that the Nexus 6 was initially planned to come with a fingerprint scanner as investigation from the media has revealed code commits, and other traces of it all over the place, but now, we’ve heard a very official confirmation and an explanation of all the reasons why the Nexus 6 skipped on the security feature.

Former Motorola chief executive Dennis Woodman admits that the Nexus 6 fingerprint scanner was scrapped because of its sub-par quality.

“The secret behind that is that it was supposed to be fingerprint recognition, and Apple bought the best supplier. So the second best supplier was the only one available to everyone else in the industry and they weren’t there yet,” says Woodside.

Earlier evidence suggests that Google and Motorola were thinking about using a swipe-based fingerprint scanner like on Samsung Galaxy smartphones, rather than a touch-based sensor like on the Apple’s iPhone.

We’re curious to learn what are the ramifications for this for future Android devices, and whether we’d get a system-wide support for the fingerprint scanning feature. That’s something that the future will tell.

source: The Telegraph

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17 Comments

1. Scott93274

Posts: 6038; Member since: Aug 06, 2013

Wow, they just went ahead and said it, They wanted the number one supplier but Apple bought them, and number 2 wasn't good enough. Well, maybe next year we'll get the retinal scanner, much more difficult to break into. lol.

posted on Jan 26, 2015, 9:58 AM 2

3. sgodsell

Posts: 7383; Member since: Mar 16, 2013

Not really some groups were working on a retinal scanner for the phone. They basically stated that an 8mp front facing camera with great light would work. But not very many phones offer an 8mp front facing camera with great light. Its more expensive compared to a finger scanner. That's why we have not seen a retinal scanner on phones. As soon as 8, 10, or 13 mp cameras become really cheap, then I could see retinal scanners in phones. That would be awesome.

posted on Jan 26, 2015, 10:16 AM 0

5. saucexD

Posts: 62; Member since: Jan 20, 2015

Let alone are able to capture the light needed in dark environments at night. Your room, a bar, the streets, a club, etc etc etc. It would be awesome, but it would be impractical until the phone has an amazing sensor in its lens.

posted on Jan 26, 2015, 10:42 AM 0

6. sgodsell

The group that were working on it said that if there was enough light in front of the device, then it would work just fine in dark environments. What Google also needs to do with the Nexus 6 is produce more 64gb versions.

posted on Jan 26, 2015, 10:57 AM 0

7. saucexD

Oh nice that is great then!

posted on Jan 26, 2015, 11:40 AM 0

15. Scott93274

I imagine that there could be really bright infrared LEDs in the front that can provide enough light for the camera that won't blind the user, due to infrared not being on the spectrum of what's visible to humans. But some day I suppose. Until then it's just fun to talk about.

posted on Jan 26, 2015, 9:07 PM 0

17. saucexD

No doubt about that. Star Trek and Jetsons scanners will become a reality one day :)

posted on Jan 27, 2015, 3:35 AM 1

2. Mxyzptlk unregistered

They just need to focus on controlling their inventory so the Nexus 6 will actually be in stock.

posted on Jan 26, 2015, 10:03 AM 2

4. Racinjason

Posts: 1; Member since: Jan 26, 2015

I have purchased 4 nexus6 phones since there release and have not had and problem with the phone being in stock?

posted on Jan 26, 2015, 10:24 AM 1

9. timepilot84

Posts: 113; Member since: Aug 16, 2012

I've only ever seen it in stock once, and that was on the Motorola site, and only the blue with 32Gb, so I bought one. I've been waiting for a 64Gb White one to come available anywhere from either Motorola or Google, and it hasn't happened yet. Things might be different if you go to a carrier's store, but buying one straight from Google or Motorola is difficult.

posted on Jan 26, 2015, 11:58 AM 0

8. realhumanbeing

Posts: 53; Member since: Oct 18, 2014

Finger print sensor is not really even a necessity.

posted on Jan 26, 2015, 11:46 AM 0

10. .KRATOS.

Posts: 442; Member since: Mar 15, 2013

What bout notification led, double tap to wake, one hand mode, finger print sensor, i guess the nexus 6 would've been much better, but they f*** up lot of things.

posted on Jan 26, 2015, 12:19 PM 0

13. VZWuser76

Posts: 4974; Member since: Mar 04, 2010

I'd take Moto Display any day over a notification LED.

posted on Jan 26, 2015, 2:43 PM 1

14. Blazers

Posts: 746; Member since: Dec 05, 2011

Don't forget the lack of an IR blaster.

posted on Jan 26, 2015, 5:56 PM 0

16. VZWuser76

I've honestly never seen the use of that. Why run down the battery on my phone when a remote's batteries last much longer anyway? It's no more portable than a remote.