If you are one of those people who has to lock and unlock their smartphone tens of times a day and would love to have an automated solution for it, here's a new feature in Android OS running phones, that you got to love. Known as the 'on-body' detection mode, here's an update to Google's Android that can smartly lock and unlock your smartphone depending on where it is. It means that, if your phone is in contact with your body, it will automatically unlock and if it's just lying on the couch or a table, it will stay locked. This means the feature not only ensures the user's comfort, but also keeps your phone's data safe from an intruder's or thief's eyes.
The simple mechanism behind this feature lies in the fact that most smartphones today have an accelerometer fitted inside the body. Using it, this smart lock feature figures out when your device is in your hands and when it isn't, by determining if it is being continually moved. Now during the time the phone is your hands, it will stay unlocked and get locked only when you put it down. The thing to note here is that, if you pick it up again, you will need to manually unlock it and if the phone is handed over to someone when it is in the unlock mode in your hands, it will not lock on its own. The feature isn't able to recognise the owner, but only whether someone is holding it or not.
Folks over at AndroidPolice have found that the new feature works on smartphones running Android's 5.0 or above version. The roll out seems to be a gradual one and if you are running the latest version of Google Play Services (7.0.97), it should soon reach your phone.
We believe that the feature is only for the user's convenience and not as a security option. Do let us know if you are seeing the On-Body detection mode in your phone's settings and have you started using it.
No comments:
Post a Comment