Nexus 6 Almost Had a Fingerprint Sensor on Back; Apple Indirectly Stopped It

[dgstorm]

Here's an interesting bit of trivia for this fine Monday morning. Apparently, the Google Nexus 6 almost had a fingerprint sensor on its back. Supposedly, that dimpled spot where Motorola put their logo was going to be the designated spot for it.

The reason it never showed up in the device is also another tantalizing tidbit of trivia. Apple stopped it from happening, although only indirectly. It turns out that Motorola had been working with a company called AuthenTec since 2011 to develop a fingerprint sensor tech for mobile devices.

AuthenTec was and is at the cutting edge of mobile fingerprint sensor technology, and all of their competitors are basically a generation or more behind. If you follow Apple news at all, you might recognize that name. Alternatively, if use your Sherlock Holmesian deductive logic you can come up with the same result. That's the same company that Apple purchased in 2012 for $356 Million and ended up using their fingerprint tech exclusively in the iPhone 5S.

It seems that not only was the purchase a way to offer new technology to iPhone users, it was also an indirect way to block anyone else from getting the tech for their phones. Interestingly, the Nexus 6 firmware files show that built-in support for the fingerprint sensor was already in the Nexus 6, but was removed at the last minute.

Former Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside shared that he thinks it would not have made that big of a difference for Motorola devices either way. What do you think?

Here's a direct link to our dedicated Google Nexus 6 section for further discussions: Nexus 6 Android Forum at DroidForums.net

Source: TheTelegraph

 

[johnomaz]

To me its a gimmicky feature. I probably wouldn't have used it if it did come with the N6.

 

[Ollie]

It's not a gimmick. TouchID is pretty awesome. No more pincodes or passwords unless you power the device off. Apple nailed this when they purchased AuthenTec.

I'm looking forward to it being baked directly into the screen. Apple and Samsung have patents for it so I hope we see it soon.

 

[johnomaz]

I set up my Moto 360 to be a trusted bluetooth device. If my phone is with me, I don't have to deal with pinc odes and stuff anymore either. As for passwords, I prefer to put them in myself. I still manage to remember the onslaught of different passwords I use.

 

[Dusty]

I thought it was pretty gimmicky when first unveiled but I'll admit it's pretty much as advertised. My wife has a 6+ and to me it's virtually see-through. Once you set it up it does just what it's supposed to do and you don't even notice it.

 

[pc747]

Smart move by Apple. They bought the company and own the rights. Smart business move.

 

[FoxKat]

Funny, a friend texted this to me at 11:00 this morning and I was going to start a thread! LOL

Apparently that was also the company that food the Atrix 4G.

 

[bsweetness]

It's not a gimmick. TouchID is pretty awesome. No more pincodes or passwords unless you power the device off. Apple nailed this when they purchased AuthenTec.

I'm looking forward to it being baked directly into the screen. Apple and Samsung have patents for it so I hope we see it soon.

I completely agree. It's not a gimmick in the slightest. TouchID works exceptionally well, and is one of the most impressive additions to the iPhone in years. Apple deserves credit where credit is due here with their acquisition of AuthenTec and the way they've implemented the fingerprint scanner.

I would love to have a fingerprint scanner in an Android device that works as well as TouchID. The one on the Note 4 works well enough, but it's not as straightforward and reliable as TouchID.

 

[Sydman]

So by default we missed out on notification led, tap to wake, and now fingerprint sensor. Yet forced encryption made its way in there?

I know the first two can be had back with root and modification, just saying, why they be hobbling my phone?

 

[johnomaz]

I put CM12 on my N6 and have double tap to wake and my notification LED enabled. You can do it with just rooted Android but I wanted to run CM12. Been so long since I ran any version of CM on a phone.

 

[Ollie]

Well the Tmo Nexus is about to get an update that turns on the 700mhz band so at least they are still improving the phone. Fingerprint scanner or not.

 

[johnomaz]

Didn't know that. Thats actually huge. I'm in Central California and 700Mhz will eventually come to my area. I know Modesto CA got turned on for 100Mb LTE and while driving through there (about 15 mins from were I live) I was getting about 70Mb down and 40Mb up. Very impressive speeds. If that expands south towards where I live I'll be stoked.

T-Mobile Wideband LTE Blows by the Competition in New York T-Mobile Newsroom

Theres the cities with the Wideband LTE enabled.

 

[Jeffrey]

Smart move by Apple. They bought the company and own the rights. Smart business move.

What's interesting is Apple will buy chips from Sammy, but won't sell the scanner to anyone. They obviously don't need the revenue, but is it really a good business decision?

 

[grenefroggie]

There are some things that need to be done by someone who more experience, has the funds for R&D, and who consistently turns out a quality product.

Sometimes, buying out the tool you need is easier. Now the tech is there, but they didn't spend money on the initial R&D and can invest in further development and production. This move also provided Apple with exclusivity on revolutionary technology that no competitor can produce at this time.

Clearly it paid off either way. The company made $18,000,000,000 last quarter because the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are a grand slam home run for the company.

And I love TouchID. I have my thumbprint on my girlfriend's phone. It is rather convenient.

 

[cr6]

18 trillion last quarter huh? Talk about profit margin! LOL