It is invariably Samsung that figures in the technology news. This time for a change, it is the other South Korean major LG. The company has teased its next flagship phone, the LG G8 ThinQ, via a blog post. The highlight of this reveal is that the phone will come with a 3D ToF (time of flight) camera on the front of the phone which will be deployed for face recognition and for unlocking. The company has given out the name of the technology provider, in this case, Infineon Technologies.
LG Claims its 3D Technology Superior
The 3D ToF technology is not new to the smartphone scene and Sony and Apple have indicated an association for the iPhones as well. The technology basically involves capturing the images based on the time taken from the object, in this case, the human face of the smartphone’s owner and the lens clicking the image. The technology takes over and there are algorithms in place to do all the calculations and complete the process of identification in a matter of multi-seconds. In the traditional facial recognition software used for unlocking phones and other devices, there is the use of structured lighting, which does the same function but the ToF technology is considered far more superior to it. Within the ToF technology, now LG claims that its facial ID linked to the front selfie camera would give the most accurate results in facial recognition. LG has changed the paradigm by shifting the facial ID from the rear camera to the front one.
ToF is Cost Effective
It has been established that the 3D based ToF technology, though advanced, is less cumbersome to manufacture and can save on the costs for the phone manufacturers when compared to the other alternatives. There are other brands like Oppo and Honor which have released phones with the 3D ToF camera setups. Once the details of the LG G8 ThinQ is fully revealed, the other phone makers could take to the arrangement in their future offerings as well.
The next important event is naturally the MWC 2019 that starts later in the month. This and other technologies will be shared with the media and the public there.
For the record, the LG G8 ThinQ will have a 6.1 inch IPS LCD display, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC processor and 4GB RAM. The camera section is expected to feature a dual 16 MP + 16 MP camera with LED flash and an 8 MP front camera. A 3000 mAh battery with Quick Charging 3.0 support will power the device.