Leaked Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus final renders

1. Intelligent Scan Vs Face ID

Credit here goes to SamCentral which dug through Samsung’s latest Android Oreo beta and found a hidden feature which looks like the company’s answer to Face ID on the iPhone X. It is called ‘Intelligent Scan’, it is a combination of both iris and facial recognition.

Accompanying text in the beta states the two technologies work “together for better results even in low or very bright light” and for “better accuracy and security”. There is also an animation hidden within the source code (SecSettings
es

Will Intelligent Scan be a rival to Face ID? I’m not convinced, but it may be the best alternative we’ve seen. Certainly iris recognition is extremely secure (more so than facial recognition used in Face ID) and combining the two is an interesting metric, but without a 3D mapping dot projector as used in Face ID it may be more easily fooled by 2D images. Time will tell.

Time will also tell if Samsung brings Intelligent Scan to existing Galaxy smartphones. The Galaxy S and Galaxy Note ranges have had both iris and facial recognition scanners for a while now, so theoretically Samsung should be able to bring this feature to them as well.

1. Samsung Confirms Dual Sim Galaxy S9 Plus

Samsung has already announced the day it will unveil the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus, but an over eager addition to its website has now confirmed there will be a third variant with a dual sim version of the Galaxy S9 Plus as well.

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Samsung Confirms Galaxy S9 As Secret Feature Leaks

Gordon Kelly , CONTRIBUTOR
I write about technology's biggest companies

Samsung has already confirmed what is arguably the Galaxy S9’s most significant upgrade, but now following display leaks, battery information and detailed specifications, two further slips by Samsung have confirmed a third Galaxy S9 variant and what is set to be the Galaxy S9's biggest secret feature...

Let’s break them down…

Evan Blass
Leaked Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus final renders

1. Intelligent Scan Vs Face ID

Credit here goes to SamCentral which dug through Samsung’s latest Android Oreo beta and found a hidden feature which looks like the company’s answer to Face ID on the iPhone X. It is called ‘Intelligent Scan’, it is a combination of both iris and facial recognition.

Accompanying text in the beta states the two technologies work “together for better results even in low or very bright light” and for “better accuracy and security”. There is also an animation hidden within the source code (SecSettings
es
awsem_intelligentscan_help.mp4) which has been extracted below:

For those who want to dig around in the Oreo beta themselves, the Settings APK has been uploaded here.

Will Intelligent Scan be a rival to Face ID? I’m not convinced, but it may be the best alternative we’ve seen. Certainly iris recognition is extremely secure (more so than facial recognition used in Face ID) and combining the two is an interesting metric, but without a 3D mapping dot projector as used in Face ID it may be more easily fooled by 2D images. Time will tell.

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Time will also tell if Samsung brings Intelligent Scan to existing Galaxy smartphones. The Galaxy S and Galaxy Note ranges have had both iris and facial recognition scanners for a while now, so theoretically Samsung should be able to bring this feature to them as well.

1. Samsung Confirms Dual Sim Galaxy S9 Plus

Samsung has already announced the day it will unveil the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus, but an over eager addition to its website has now confirmed there will be a third variant with a dual sim version of the Galaxy S9 Plus as well.

Ghostek, Gordon Kelly
Galaxy S9 final design shown off inside a waterproof Ghostek Nautical case

Spotted by the ever reliable LetsGoDigital, dual sim variants of previous Galaxy smartphones have long been popular so this isn’t entirely unexpected news. But the interesting thing is these models have usually been reserved for Asian markets yet the model (SM-G960F/DS - aka ‘Dual Sim’) is listed on a holding page for Samsung’s German website indicating the model will come to Europe for the first time.

Whether this also suggests a US launch for Galaxy dual sim models is on the cards remains to be seen, but such a move would be a boon to smartphone owners with two network contracts or separate home and work phones.

Couple this new information with the fact I exclusively revealed the (somewhat disappointing) Galaxy S9’s final design last month and there’s little left for Samsung to show when it launches the smartphone in February (despite some impressive internals). In fact, for my money, the most exciting thing about the Galaxy S9 is likely to be the popular legacy features Samsung has kept when so many rivals are discarding them…