Huawei introduces first-ever facial recognition feature through nova2i

Wednesday, 31 January 2018 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Huawei, the number one growing smartphone brand in Sri Lanka, launched the facial recognition option for their latest smartphone series, the Huawei nova2i. This is the first occasion a Huawei smartphone comes with a facial recognition feature which is available to existing nova 2i customers by updating to the latest software version.

Huawei Device Sri Lanka Country Head Peter Liu said, “Huawei nova 2i epitomises innovation with its First facial unlock feature, and we are happy to introduce this to Sri Lanka for our customers to enjoy greater convenience.”

The nova2i was recently introduced to the market as Huawei’s first quad camera and FullView Display phone. It is considered the best phone with a 13 megapixel camera in the premium mid-range segment. The Huawei nova 2i commanded high demand from customers even before its launch. It is currently one of the top selling smartphone brands in Sri Lanka. Globally the smartphone tops over three million customers.

Huawei nova2i’s latest software upgrade incorporates a convenient way of unlocking the phone screen by pressing the power button to first wake the screen and then use face recognition technology to unlock the screen besides using the fingerprint sensor option. The Huawei nova2i comes with faster unlock speed; only 800 milliseconds to unlock the device, when compared to many other similar smartphone options in the market. This introduction ensures convenient and quick access to one’s smartphone.

The Huawei nova 2i is more user-friendly by offering two options, Direct unlock or Slide to unlock. If one chooses slide-to-unlock setting, one can also take advantage of their intelligent notification display—smartlock screen notifications. If the Huawei nova 2i identifies the smartphone user is not the face ID owner, it will automatically hide the information/content from any notifications, such as; SMS, WeChat, Whatsapp, protecting user privacy.

A security based advantage about this new addition to the Huawei nova2i is that the face unlock only works when the eyes are open which would in turn, prevent other people from unlocking the device when the phone’s owner is asleep for example. The face unlock mechanism has been designed to record over 1,000 data points on the device owner’s face thus preventing thieves from using photos or videos of the owner’s face to unlock the device. Data is stored within the Kirin processor’s Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) to ensure maximum security.

The upgraded version also includes a fun Augmented Reality (AR) lens selfie feature. This means one can easily enjoy a more amazing Selfie experience using self-creative backgrounds. Using this creative AR experience, one can super-impose into photos with idols or take a picture standing in front of the Eiffel Tower, London’s Big Ben or even the Sydney Harbour Bridge for example.

The Huawei nova2i also comes with the standard swipe option to unlock the screen where it also displays notifications. The screen would also display the content of notifications if it has verified the owner, and hide key content from non-owner users who would access the smartphone.