Fingerprint scanner to dual-flash: What to expect in Apple’s iPhone 5S 

Apple’s next version of the iPhone, which has been dubbed the iPhone 5S in the press, is likely to be released on 10 September according to a report by AllThingsD. The date is seen as pretty much accurate, given that the last iPhone came out on 12 September.

So what are we expecting from the iPhone 5s?

Fingerprint scanner: According to a report by MacRumors, which quoted reliable KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the iPhone 5S may include a sapphire-covered convex home button housing a fingerprint sensor.

Kuo has a strong track record in terms of its ability to predict features of the iPhone in the past and according to Ming’s analysis, Apple’s new convex home button creates space for fingerprint sensor.

He is quoted as saying: A convex home button could be more easily scratched, so a harder material is required. We believe Apple will switch from plastic to sapphire, whose hardness is second only to diamond. Sapphire would protect the home button from being scratched and the fingerprint sensor from being damaged. 

Do note that Apple also purchased Authentec, a company which provides security hardware and software for PCs and mobile devices, last year in July.

What does Authentec offer: It provides mobile security software licenses to companies like Samsung, and fingerprint sensor technology to computer makers such as Hewlett-Packard Co and Dell Inc.

According to a Reuters report, at the time of acquisition Apple also paid AuthenTec $7.5 million for some product development work. The report adds that according to agreement filed with regulators it hinted at the development of “a 2D fingerprint sensor for Apple that is suitable for use in an Apple product.”

So there you have it : a fingerprint sensor made of sapphire could the biggest change to the iPhone.

Dual-Flash Camera: MacRumors also released pictures of an iPhone with a camera with dual-LED flash. The photograph showed two different coloured LED flashes next to the rear camera. Again this could just be prototype device but if Apple does release an iPhone with dual-LED it could lead to better white balance in photos. You could have the option of using the LED that matches the scene.

It’s also be rumoured that Apple will finally offer a 12-or-13 megapixel camera. According to this report, Apple could use Sony’s 13 megapixel sensor of its camera.

                     A Tablet With No Internet Access

TOKYO — The Samjiyon tablet computer, it is safe to say, is no threat to the iPad.

While Apple and other leading tablet makers keep adding more features to these devices, the Samjiyon is more notable for what it lacks: YouTube, Gmail, Wi-Fi, even access to the Internet – at least, the Internet that most of the world knows.

Samjiyon is a North Korean brand, if that is the right word for the labels affixed to electronics in the world’s most hard-line communist country. Word of the Samjiyon began to trickle out of North Korea last year after the device was shown off at a trade fair in Pyongyang.

Now an intrepid traveler has gone into North Korea and brought back a Samjiyon tablet for the rest of the world to see. IDG, a technology news service and trade publisher, has provided a report based on his review.

The device, IDG says, comes equipped with a 7-inch screen, a 2-megapixel camera, a 1.2-GHz processor and it runs a version of Google’s Android operating system. Several apps, including games like “Angry Birds,” come pre-installed.

IDG said the information was provided by a tourist who asked that he be identified only by his first name, Michael, to ensure that he could re-enter the country.

The Samjiyon, acquired at a gift shop in Pyongyang for $200, is “surprisingly impressive,” IDG quotes Michael as saying.

“In terms of responsiveness and speed, it can almost compete against the leading tablets,” the news service quotes him as saying. “Tapping and launching apps feels fairly fluid, initializing the camera is as fast as the world’s leading tablets, and there is no noticeable lag when playing games I’m familiar with, like ‘Angry Birds.’ ’’

But there is a hitch. Michael tells IDG that he has been unable to get the Samjiyon online. While there is limited Internet connectivity in North Korea, access requires government permission. Even mobile phones remain rare.

Instead, North Korea has its own walled garden of an online service, called Kwangmyong, and the tablet has a Web browser for access. The Samjiyon also provides access to government-run television broadcasts, IDG says.

           STARBUCKS TO PARTNER WITH GOOGLE FOR FASTER WI-FI

US coffee store Starbucks said that it has reached a deal with Google that will help in providing its customers a faster access to Wi-Fi from August.

The Seattle-based company has made Wi-Fi free at its stores since July 2010, doing away with a previous fee of $3.99 for two hours of access.

Starbucks said that Google, in conjunction with Level 3 Communications, will now be providing Wi-Fi service to its stores located in the US.

The new service will have an internet speed 10 times faster than the current service powered by AT&T.

The faster service will first appear in new Starbucks locations over the next month. Starbucks will then roll it out to its 7,000 other US stores, starting with the busiest locations where Wi-Fi usage is highest.

The company expects to complete the transition in about 18 months.

"This is obviously an important milestone in our relationship with Google," Starbucks Chief Digital Officer Adam Brotman told CNET.

                   iOS 7 May Bring Fingerprint Scanning to the Mainstream

The next iPhone will likely have a fingerprint scanning feature through iOS 7, iOS developer Hamza Sood has tweeted.

The tweet has a link to an image that shows several folders, including one titled "BiometricKitui.axbundle."

Sood further posted this Vine video showing an iPhone running iOS7.

He is the creator of the free app SiriToggles, a jailbreak that lets Siri launch apps and access the iPhone's Settings app. It's available in the BigBoss repository of the Cydia app store.

Apple did not respond to our request to comment for this story

LET'S HEAR IT FOR SCANNING

Fingerprint scanning "adds another factor to the authentication process ... [which is] a net good thing" because this makes accounts more secure, Tom Kemp, CEO of Centrify, told MacNewsWorld. "This is, of course, assuming the scanning technology works."

Further, fingerprint scanning "combats a major source of security risk associated with passwords, namely password re-use," remarked Brendan Wilson, director of product management at Nok Nok Labs.

However, multiple levels of authentication are necessary, especially when payments or transactions are involved, said Jeff Orr, a senior practice director at ABI Research.

On the other hand, the technology has yet to be proven on a mass scale, and the fragmentation of mobile operating systems and mobile devices will make it hard to deliver a consistent experience for users of a given app, Kemp warned.

Other issues include determining how to fit the sensor into a smartphone's casing and figuring out where to position it for the best user experience, Nok Nok Labs' Wilson told MacNewsWorld.

Then there's the problem of false positives and negatives.

"Any implementation will always need to deal with issues such as cut or dirty fingers or oily or extra-dry skin," Greg Kazmierczak, vice president of technology strategy at Wave Systems, told MacNewsWorld.

GIVING THE IPHONE THE FINGER

Apple's incorporation of fingerprint scanning technology was expected in the wake of its purchase of mobile security firm AuthenTec just over a year ago for about US$356 million.

AuthenTec sold fingerprint sensor technology to HP, Dell and other computer manufacturers. Its fingerprint technology is used in mobile phones in Japan for authentication of mobile payments.

Fingerprint scanning will not just be a security feature; it will help move iPhones closer to becoming the mobile centers of users' lives by enabling mobile payments.

Last month, Apple was granted a key iWallet patent to enable a mobile pay service, an area in which it has lagged Android.

Further, it announced the new iOS 7 feature AirDrop at its World Wide Developers Conference last month.

The opportunity is huge. The mobile payments market will hit $90 billion by 2017, Forresterhas predicted.

AirDrop would replace the need to use Near Field Communication, which is a key technology for mobile wallets that is being used by Google.

OF FINGERS, SMARTPHONES AND SCANNERS

Fingerprint scanning on a smartphone was introduced in the Motorola Atrix 4G back in 2011.

"This is not something so revolutionary that it's never been done before," ABI's Orr told MacNewsWorld. "Notebooks have had fingerprint scanning for years."

Samsung reportedly planned to introduce a fingerprint scanning capability in its Galaxy Note 3, which was launched last year, but had to hold off because fingerprint sensing chips were in short supply.

However, "I'm not sure if it's so much a shortage as it's a relatively basic market, meaning there are relatively few implementations [of fingerprint sensing chips]," Orr said. "There is definitely supply out there; the question is, how relevant is it to the mobile market, and what's the right way to incorporate it into the device?"

Support for the technology from a company like Apple, "which could put the capability in millions of devices," noted Orr, "would be a game changer in putting a relatively restricted technology into the mainstream."