In the video, a group of skydivers are seen jumping from a plane flying at 15,000 feet and successfully attempting to unlock the Honor 7A smartphone using Face ID during a freefall.
Doing away with the famous Touch ID, Apple introduced the world to Face ID with its iPhone X last year, a trend that other smartphone-makers later followed somewhat religiously. Apple seems to be removing the Touch ID from all future iPhones, which reflects that the Cupertino-based company is sure that its Face unlocking technology will work in every condition. On the contrary, other manufacturers are still incorporating a fingerprint sensor, along with Face ID, in their devices as “an add on unlocking feature”. Now, in an interesting development, a group of skydivers have successfully attempted to unlock a phone using Facial Recognition during a freefall. The whole scene was published by Mashable in a video.
In a 2.24 minute clip, the divers are seen jumping off the plane from about 15,000 feet. They claim that this was the first time they jumped off a plane with smartphones strapped to their bodies. The goal of the dive was to see if the technology could work in 'unusual' circumstances like a free fall.
The video starts with a byte of Mashable UK Editor Anne-Marie Tomchak. “If there's one thing we can all agree on, people are pretty damn lazy and now we've achieved the ultimate, zero-effort feature on our phones, the face unlock. It's human nature to push existing technology to the limits. So we wanted to see if the face unlock still works even in the most unusual circumstances. Let's say, for example while jumping from a plane,” Tomchak says.
She says that she will jump thrice from the plane in order to unlock the phone during freefall. In the next shot, she is seen jumping from the plane with three skydivers. While one is holding her, the other one is falling just opposite to her with an Honor 7A smartphone fixed on the helmet. The third person is shooting the video. She fails to unlock the phone. After three unsuccessful attempts, it was up to the “professional skydivers to save the day.” Apparently, in the fourth attempt, the skydivers strapped the phone to the wrist and jumped off the plane. They succeed in their attempt to unlock a phone using a face recognition during freefall.
“If there's anything we can take away from this experiment, it's that trying to unlock a phone while skydiving is hard. But if you're skilled enough, you can make the most of your face while falling from 15,000 feet,” the editor said.
Cover image courtesy: Mashable
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