Give it to Android to keep your fingerprint scanner alive. According to Malaysian youtuber Fazli Halim (who has already leaked details of the Pixel 6a that Google will launch on July 28), the Pixel 6a’s fingerprint scanner will not be a disappointing mistake like the Pixel 6/6 Pro.
Over the weekend, 9to5Google presented Halim’s latest 14-minute look at Pixel 6a. The video goes through the interface of the mid-range smartphone in relation to that of the Pixel 6, although 9to5Google reminds us that this is not the ultimate software for the Pixel 6a. And while things may seem faster, it’s all conjecture until we have this smartphone in our hands to test it ourselves.
At around 5 minutes, Halim shows a quick comparison between the fingerprint scanners under the screen of both the Pixel 6a and the Pixel 6 Pro. The Pixel 6a unlocks twice during the time it takes to unlock the Pixel 6 Pro once. Still, the Pixel 6a falters a few times after this initial test. In the second demo, the Pixel 6a makes three attempts for a quick unlock. It seems that the connecting thread is that the programming of the Pixel requires a little more time than other fingerprint sensors under the screen.
Halim is also testing the Pixel 6a with the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, though it’s no surprise that Samsung’s most flagship flagship outperforms Google’s next mid-range offering. As Halim says in English in the video, and according to the bilingual translation I tried with the YouTube subtitles, there seems to be “nothing revolutionary”. It takes three attempts before the 6th is unlocked in the video. The two times we see the Ultra unlock, it’s much faster. It does not even require the scan symbol to appear on the screen for you to register your fingerprint.
As The Verge reminds us, Rick Osterloh confirmed last month that the Pixel 6a will be shipped with a different fingerprint sensor than its flagship predecessor. Hopefully, this is good for performance. I completely turned off the fingerprint scanner on my Pixel 6 because of how often it failed, and instead opted for the traditional PIN unlock like the days before on Android.
The Android platform seems to keep its fingerprint as the main line of security, while Apple’s iPhone has completely removed Touch ID. Technology seems to have been replaced by Face ID, which I can anecdotally say feels much faster than any fingerprint I’ve scanned on a Pixel, Samsung, and even a OnePlus device. There are rumors that it will return to the main iPhone, but currently only the iPhone SE has Touch ID embedded in the power button.
The rest of Halim’s video shows us some of the capabilities of the Pixel’s camera and shows a bit of the interface. But, as I mentioned earlier, this is not a final software creation, so it should only be taken with a grain of salt, although we have a list of specifications for the Pixel camera hardware.
The Pixel 6a will launch on July 28 for $ 450 ($ 625). Pre-orders will open from July 21st. The phone will have 6GB of memory, 128GB of storage and will support WiFi 6e, Bluetooth LE, eSIM and contactless payments.