According to the reports we got from our sources, the fourth version of the developer beta of Android Q comes with a new “Face Authentication” entry in the settings menu which suggests that Google is working towards providing a support for face unlock feature in its operating system. With the support provided for the face unlock feature, users will be able to unlock their devices, sign into apps, and even go to the extent of making payments by looking at their phone screens allowing the device to capture the face and working in the same manner as the Apple Face ID technology. Information from our sources suggest that the ultimate version of the Android Q will be released during the summer.
Before now, Android devices have come with face unlock support, however, when they did, they had to be backed up with some sort of support by the manufacturers of the mobile devices in order to function as well as the Apple Face ID technology. However, the downside to this is that having each manufacturer build its own support for the face unlock feature can produce certain inconsistencies. To illustrate, the face unlock feature that is available on the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus can be deceived with a video of your face playing on a different smartphone.
On another note, having native support for Face Authentication in Android Q can make the face unlock feature a lot more consistent over every Android device out there. A code that was found out by XDA-Developers at some point in January this year hinted on the fact that handsets will need to include a certain facial recognition hardware so that it would be possible to make use of the facial recognition feature and one would hope that the software will be better equipped to tell the difference between an actual face and a 2D image taken by a selfie camera.
Another important thing to note is that the facial recognition hardware could provide Android mobile devices with an actual shot at having to compete against the Face ID technology that Apple employs in its own devices starting with the iPhone X in 2017. Despite the fact that the technology of Apple is not flawless, it is still way up there when compared with Android.
One other thing that is included in the beta support of the Android Q is a “Screen Attention” feature which is somewhat the same as the Samsung Smart Stay and Apple Attention Aware feature that keeps the screen of the phone from going dim when its camera senses that one is looking it. The most significant change (arguable) in the developer beta is the padlock icon on lock screen which has been moved from the bottom of the screen to the top.
