According to what is alleged to be the settings page on the Samsung Galaxy S8, the fingerprint scanner will support gestures that will open and close apps. While the page itself is in Spanish, running the words through Google Translate results in something interesting. Under the heading “Gestos para sensor de huella” (Gestures for the fingerprint sensor), it reads “abir y cerrar aplicaciones y funciones con el sensor huella digitales.” Translated, it reads “Open and close applications and functions with the fingerprint sensor.” And there is a toggle switch right next to the sentence that allows users to enable and disable this feature.
The placement of the fingerprint scanner on the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Samsung Galaxy S8+ has been controversial. Because Samsung wanted to do away with front-facing buttons, the biometric reader has been moved to the back. While that is not unusual, most rear-facing scanners are placed under the camera, toward the center of the back cover. There, they can be reached and found easily. Instead, on the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+, the fingerprint scanner is located directly to the right of the rear camera lens. Users might have to move their finger around to find the spot, and could end up smudging the camera lens.
This doesn’t appear to be anything like the gestures used with the Pixel’s fingerprint scanner, which allows those with the phone to control the notifications shade on the screen. On the Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus, the fingerprint scanner can be used to navigate the device. Swiping left is the same as pressing the “Back” button. Swiping to the right is the same as clicking on the “Recents” button. And pressing on the fingerprint scanner will take you “Home.” But that is easier to pull off with a front-facing fingerprint scanner, not one that your fingers will have to do some walking to find.
So as a result, while we are intrigued by how this feature might work, we will have to wait for the unveiling to find out. Luckily, the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ are just days away from their March 29th introduction.
source: TheAndroidSoul
