Samsung Galaxy S10 Face Unlock is Not Reliable

Ars Technica reporting:

There are a number of reports that say—surprise!—a 2D image sensor can be fooled by a 2D image. The Verge was able to unlock the device with a video, and YouTube channel Unbox Therapy was able to unlock the S10 just by playing one of its public channel videos in view of the camera. The worst example is probably from AndroidWorld.it, which was able to unlock the Galaxy S10 by waving a still photo around in front of the device.

The Galaxy S10 can also reportedly have trouble telling different people apart. Security Researcher Jane Wong was able to unlock her brother’s phone with her face.

Not surprised.

Samsung Galaxy Wireless Earbuds Review

The Verge reporting:

The Galaxy Buds are the most forgettable true wireless earbuds I’ve yet tried. I put them in, and they’re so light that I can forget I’m wearing them. That can also be said of the AirPods, except any nearby reflective surface will remind me of their presence on my head.

In my testing, I tried using the Galaxy Buds with a Pixel 3 XL, and that pairing quickly devolved into a nightmare. I was assaulted with a barrage of connection drop-offs and disconnects while casually walking down the street with the phone in my pocket. No other pair of wireless headphones has given me this much of a headache, but Google’s had its own woes with Bluetooth in the past, so let’s call that an unfortunate combination.

Samsung just does’t care about fine details.

Samsung Galaxy Watch Active Review 2019

The Verge:

The Active’s design is fairly generic. It comes in nicer colors than the black variant I reviewed, but all of them share the same understated style that almost looks like something Pebble would have made. It’s not flashy, but it works. The 20mm bands are easy to replace, as well.

But Samsung took something very important away from the Galaxy Watch Active: it lacks the rotating bezel that has proven to be an intuitive, natural, and fun control mechanism on the company’s other smartwatches. The Tizen Wearable OS 4.0 software is designed to put the display’s circular shape to good use, but navigating the Galaxy Watch Active can feel more finicky without the rotating bezel and its satisfying clicks.

For one, the watch’s software doesn’t really take into account this significant change in how you interact with it. The user experience is largely identical to that of the Galaxy Watch, and it’s clearly meant to work best with a rotating bezel that can quickly scroll through menus.

Translation: not as good as Apple.