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Comment by pixelmonkey | Hacker News Reader

One of the biggest differences between the 4a and the older 4 and 4 XL is that the 4a has a rear fingerprint reader, whereas the 4 and 4 XL want you to use face unlock. So strange that this isn't emphasized (or even mentioned) on the comparison page.

This was actually the primary thing that kept me on a Pixel 2 for so long, since it also has a similar rear fingerprint sensor design (and I just pre-ordered the Pixel 4a today).

I can't be the only one who greatly prefers a rear fingerprint sensor to face unlock, especially in our new world order with widespread mask wearing -- but, even before! It's so much faster and less finicky.

(The new model's fingerprint sensor is also so subtle on the chassis on the phone that you can just barely make it out in the photograph of the phone's back shown on the comparison page. But if you squint, you'll see it. It's also discussed in many of the reviews.)

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I recently went back to an iPhone 6s while my iPhone XS was in for repairs. Boy, did I miss FaceID (though some of the pain was also due to the change in certain key combinations and gestures between home button and notch iPhones, I had to go back in time and re-learn some old habits).

Why did I miss it? Because FaceID will unlock the notification area and its associated actions before I perform any action or even touch the phone.

Let’s say I get a text, my phone is on the night stand. I just look at it and it already unlocks, no reaching.

It lets you skip a step and start interacting with the screen before the phone has unlocked. Perhaps less of a big deal with the back-mounted fingerprint sensor, in that case I could interact with the thumb simultaneous to unlocking the back.

Using password managers was another big one. Instead of tapping the auto fill button, then tapping the fingerprint sensor, it was all one click. Opening bank apps, same thing. FaceID is always one less finger motion.

Mask wearing has thrown a wrench into it but Apple has added logic to quickly bring up the pin pad when it detects a face mask. Also, sometimes it seems to learn my masked face, but that’s less reliable.

I don’t know how this compares to Pixel face unlocking at all, admittedly.

And I never understood why Apple didn’t use the rear mounted fingerprint sensor. But I do understand why they think the benefits of face unlocking outweigh the drawbacks.

Some examples not related to the action of unlocking: when your alarm goes off, the noise gets quiet when you look at the phone. Also, the screen won’t time out and turn off while your eyes are looking at it.

Wow, I so much have the opposite experience of you

> Let’s say I get a text, my phone is on the night stand. I just look at it and it already unlocks, no reaching.

My phone is on the table while I'm working. In order for it to see my face I have to pick it up and aim it at my face. With touch id I could just put my finger on top without having to pick it up. So much faster and more convenient.

I find that quite often face id is slow or fails, even if it only fails one out of 30 times that's still one a day and when it does it's frustrating as hell. Something that should take 0.5 seconds ends up taking 10-15. I know that sounds trivial but by the time the phone has unlocked, whatever I was planning to do is often forgotten because of the distraction of trying to get face id to work and then having to manually unlock.

And of course now with mask wearing it basically might as well not exist.

Current Pixel 4 owner here, and former Pixel 2 owner, and I very much miss the fingerprint sensor.

With a fingerprint sensor, the only time my phone would have any trouble unlocking would be if my finger was wet (trivial to fix and re-swipe). Face unlock fails all the time for all sorts of reasons, and is especially useless when I have a mask on (it's nice of Apple to detect masks and bring up the PIN pad without needing an extra swipe, but that's still a weak workaround). Even without a mask, I feel like the failure rate approaches 1% to 2%, which is way too much. For me to feel comfortable using it, I expect something on the order of 0.01%.

Actually I'm not even sure it's the failure rate that gets me. Even after using face unlock for the better part of a year, I still catch myself looking at the phone thinking it's waiting for my face when it isn't, and then I have to swipe up or hit the power button or something. Yes, maybe you can call these UX problems that can be fixed with software, but with a fingerprint sensor I know that when I touch it, my phone will vibrate, and I know immediately if it succeeded or failed.

I think also part of the difference is that Pixel phones have had their fingerprint sensor on the back instead of the front, like iPhones used to have. If the phone is just lying face-up on a table (and I don't want to pick it up), then having it on the front is much easier. But, in reality, I found that was rarely the case for me; usually it'd be in my pocket, or even if it was on a table, I'd want to pick it up anyway. The act of wrapping my hand around the phone would put a finger in roughly the right position to hit the sensor anyway, so it'd be unlocked and ready to use well before I was in a position to read anything off the screen anyway.

Frankly I just really don't like face unlock when compared to a fingerprint sensor.

I have a Pixel 3 and a 2020 iPad Pro. I prefer the fingerprint by far.

The nice part of rear fingerprint sensor is that it's super natural to grab your phone out of your pocket and unlock it in one simple (blind) motion. So you are quite literally never waiting for the phone to unlock, it's always unlocked by the time you lift it from your pocket.

So, as my original comment pointed out, the two “unlock” phases are:

1. Phone standby to phone on (as you describe)

2. In-phone software actions, typically, password manager or locked/private apps (banking, etc)

For case #2, I greatly prefer FaceID. For case #1, it’s a toss up for me.

Oh, I see. But I suppose on a Pixel 4a you could configure both face unlock and the fingerprint scanner and thus get best of both worlds. I personally don't find touching the scanner to be a nuisance for case #2 since its location on a Pixel 2 or 4a's chassis is such that you can do it without fiddling with how you hold your phone (your index finger tends to be near the scanner during phone use, whether one- or two-handed, anyway).

Ok, but interactions of type #2 are probably a hundred time rarer. Personally, I rather like that I have to actively decide to authorize the use of a password.

Yeah, #2 could probably be abused by a malicious app.

My Opinion is that I want that "One More" Action. It tells / reminds me that I am doing something which requires authentication. And that is with my Touch ID.

I didn't know they'd removed the fingerprint sensor. I have a Pixel 2 and I'm happy with it. I don't have any compelling reason to upgrade, except that the screen has a small crack. I would have been disappointed if I'd splurged on a new one and had to use facial recognition to unlock it. I don't like having cameras on me. It's unsettling to interact with my devices that way. I also find that the ones I have used don't work as quickly or reliably as a fingerprint. The fingerprint motion is automatic as I pull it out of my pocket, and the majority of the time I'm glancing down at my hip to check for notifications; something like that wouldn't even work with facial recognition.

Now I'm definitely holding out to see what the 5 has, because if I can get 5G connectivity, I'm willing to switch, but I won't be jumping at it if there's no fingerprint sensor.

They'll also be producing a 4a with 5G connectivity, so there's always that option.

Pixel 3 also has a fingerprint reader in the back.

While that's fair, very few people are (nor should they) swapping out their devices every year.

I agree, but in this case, the delays in releasing the 4a mean that the pixel 3 was released 22 months ago.

(Mine is starting to die, between a bad screen crack and a battery that dies by 2pm.)

Relevant username...

Face unlock is complete BS, no disagreement there.

However... has anyone actually looked into how secure those phone fingerprint readers are?

Could very well be that the reason they're pushing face unlock so hard is they know their fingerprint tech is even worse.

I'm not sure which ones you mean by "those", but there have definitely been issues with phone fingerprint readers in general, e.g. when Samsung's Galaxy S10 would allow any fingerprint to unlock the phone when it had a screen protector on it (https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-50080586).

That would definitely qualify as a those. And that is much worse than I expected.

Recent phones I've had come close to mitigating lesser concerns for me, but decide to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory at the last minute.

Basically, if the password has not been entered in X time, then you must enter the password to unlock, fingerprint not accepted.

Perfect. Except instead of letting me set X to my preferred interval (30 minutes), it seems to be hardcoded to 3 days.

A fingerprint sensor is more secure than "swipe to unlock". And that already makes it a great feature for the many consumers who don't want to enter a pin or password every time.

Same with the new iPhone SE. It's a front fingerprint reader, but it still felt like a big usability upgrade from the XS I had before. It's so easy to take your phone out and already have it unlocked, or even activate Apple Pay without looking. I'm sure the Pixel's fingerprint reader is the same story. Face ID was incredibly inconvenient when I was driving with someone else and they wanted to change the music playing on my phone, but with a fingerprint reader I don't have to take my eyes off the road.

I have a pixel 2 and a pixel 4xl (don't judge me, I am a mobile dev ).

Face unlock is pretty nice ... unless you are wearing a mask.

Very infuriating to type my long password then.

On the other side of the coin, fingerprint sensor is kind of neat (well I made a deep cut on my index yesterday so there are also situations where it fails haha). I wish there were both front and back sensors though. In the screen itself for the front one, otherwise the chin would get comically large.

Also when I am baking, I just want to use face unlock.

Ideally we would have both (or something better than both I guess)

It's not just "they want you to use face unlock", but it has the hardware to a a secure face unlock (with a 3D scan) just like the iPhone. Nothing like OnePlus' face unlock that just uses the selfie camera.

Except during this pandemic where you have to wear a mask everywhere, I actually like face unlock. It's even more seamless than the finger print reader.

I'm suspicious of fingerprint readers since they seem another point of failure. I'm on a moto z play that seems to have silently forgotten its fingerprint reader exists.

The fingerprint reader on my Pixel 2 XL is still going strong.

Fingerprint totally fails me on Nexus 5X if I have been working in garden: abrasion, small cuts or dirt prevents the recognition of either of my index fingers. (Temporary using old phone because broke newer phone).

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