Apart from the hard-to-reach fingerprint scanner, there is one more thing that the Galaxy S8 series has been criticized for - its facial recognition system. Apparently, upon testing, the bloggers at Marcianophone was able to trick their Galaxy S8 into thinking that the selfie picture from a different phone was the S8's user. Needless to say, their S8 device unlocked in a few seconds' time without the actual owner being present.
Per Forbes, Samsung has already mentioned that the Galaxy S8's facial scanning technology is not the most secured form of identification. However, it is also possible that the company is still working on the facial recognition technology, considering that the showcased phones during launch are not the final products. Nevertheless, fingerprint, PIN and iris authentications should be more preferred to ensure the phones' safety.
It's worth noting, however, that this is not the first time that Samsung ventured on a facial recognition system, according to GSM Arena. In 2012, the tech giant released its first face unlock system that requires the user to blink before unlocking. With that said, it's fairly uncertain as to why the company decided to skip that validation step with its 2017 product when in fact, its 2012 face unlock system was based on the easily-compromised Android Ice Cream Sandwich Face Unlock feature in 2011.
Nevertheless, facial recognition is clearly a tricky way to authenticate a user, and even the blinking part can only make the privacy invasion difficult but not impossible. Do note that a video of the user blinking or two images of him/her with eyes closed and eyes open can easily trick the facial recognition system in this case. While it may not be normal for other people to get a hold of a users' blinking video or pictures, it just goes to show that there is always a way to get past a facial recognition system, even in the very modern Galaxy S8 series.
So far, as a whole, Galaxy S8 reviews provide the new flagships a positive feedback. There are issues with the facial recognition system and even with the badly positioned fingerprint scanner but when it comes to other parts, the Galaxy S8 series gets a thumbs up from most tech enthusiasts. The phone has a super-fast processor, uber-bright screen and a stunning Infinity display.
