What’s unique about the Fujitsu Arrows NX F-04G smartphones for which the Japanese mobile carrier NTT DoCoMo’s has garnered exclusive distribution rights? Well, the new smartphone can be unlocked with a glance alone.
The Fujitsu Arrows NX F-04G, unveiled Wednesday in Tokyo, is the world’s first smartphone to use iris recognition in conjunction with fingerprint authentication. The iris recognition technology can be used by smartphone owners to unlock the device, sign into apps and authorize mobile payments while shopping.
The smartphone uses a front-facing infrared camera and an infrared LED light to snap a picture of the user’s eyes, verifying their unique iris pattern. Most implementations of iris-recognition systems work at a distance of 10cm.
Fujitsu is claiming that its new scanner will work way faster and more accurate than face recognition, which is already a common feature found in Android devices. The technology can be used as part of a new online authentication system in the same way fingerprints are used on high-end smartphones from Apple, Samsung and Huawei.
According to the makers, the accuracy of the iris recognition technology inbuilt in the phone improves each time it is used.
In addition to the unique iris recognition technology, the Arrows NX F-04G features a 5.2-inch Quad HD display with 2560 x 1440 resolution, powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 Octa-core processor, 3GB RAM, 32GB built-in storage, a 21.5-megapixel main camera and 2.4-megapixel secondary camera, NFC capability, Android Lollipop 5.0. and a 3,120 mAh battery. The handset weighs at 155 grams.
The Arrows NX F-04G is slated to be released in Japan for around ¥55,000 (US$460) at the end of this month. It’s unlikely that the phone will make it out of Japan.
