Fingerprint sensors are a nifty way to unlock smartphones. Unfortunately, they can also be tricked with a forged print, as was shown with the iPhone 5s and iPhone 6. But a new technology developed in California could change that. A team led by David Horsley, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of California, Davis, has developed a new ultra-safe, ultrasonic sensor. "Our ultrasonic fingerprint sensors have the ability to measure a three-dimensional, volumetric image of the finger surface and the tissues beneath the surface – making fingerprint sensors more robust and secure," says Horsley.
The sensor uses similar technology to medical ultrasound imagers. Transducers on the tiny sensor’s surface send out ultrasound pulses, which bounce off the fingerprint’s ridges and valleys before returning to the transducers. Using ultrasound means that the sensor can penetrate a thin layer of tissue near the finger’s surface, making the technology much more difficult to trick. The chip itself is made from two wafers bonded together: a ‘complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor’ (CMOS) wafer and a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) wafer. The CMOS wafer contains the circuitry for processing the signals, while the MEMS wafer contains the transducers. Besides the security advantages, the researchers say that these chips will be extremely cheap to make. “We were able to use low-cost, high-volume manufacturing processes that produce hundreds of millions of MEMS sensors for consumer electronics each year,” says Horsley. So look out for these sensors on a smartphone near you…
Sony has formally unveiled the Xperia M4 Aqua (E2303, E2306, E2353) and Xperia M4 Dual (E2312, E2333, E2363)The 4G LTE phone is the same that has been leaked in recent days arriving with a 5-inch (720 x 1280) IPS display (PPI of 294 and screen-to-phone ratio of 65.24%), a 64-bit Snapdragon 615 chipset with Octa core processor (1.5 GHz quad-core Cortex-A53 and 1.0 GHz quad-core Cortex-A53) and Adreno 405 graphics.
The Xperia M4 Aqua will launch in two variants when it comes to internal storage. Model numbers E2303, E2353, E2312 will have 8GB storage, whilst the E2306, E2333, E2363 variants will have 16GB of internal storage. All models will have 2GB RAM.Sony Xperia M4 Aqua will come with the similar “Aqua” moniker as well as the IP68 certification for water and dust resistance as its predecessor.
Other features include a 13MP Exmor RS rear camera with F2.0 aperture and ISO 3200 sensitivity, 5MP front-facing camera with 88° field of view, Bluetooth 4.1, NFC and a 2400mAh battery for a two-day battery life. The Xperia M4 Aqua has dimensions of 145.5 x 72.6 x 7.3 mm and will weigh 140 grams.
The Xperia M4 Aqua will launch in three colours (Black, White and a new Coral colour). Sony says the handset will hit 80 countries and 100 partners worldwide when it is released in Spring 2015 for around EUR 299. It will launch with Android 5.0 Lollipop from the outset and will be part of the Xperia Lounge Silver programme.
