Hasta La Gadget!

This year we saw the trend of fingerprint scanners in smartphones pick up. It was rumored for months that the iPhone 5s would come with a fingerprint scanner, and it did. Then the HTC One Max was unveiled, which also had a similar scanner, albeit on the back. Even Samsung’s Galaxy Note 3 was rumored to have it, but that didn’t pan out. Rumor has it that a number of flagship smartphones in 2014 will come with fingerprint scanner and the folks at Digitimes are hearing from “industry sources” that both HTC and LG are planning to use sapphire for home buttons of 2014 flagship devices.

Apparently the HTC One 2 and the LG G3 will come with sapphire home buttons, thus allowing both manufacturers to bundle fingerprint scanners. It has already been rumored that LG’s 2014 flagship is going to have the scanner. HTC already released one device touting said scanner this year, it seems likely that the company will introduce it into next year’s flagship as well. Both smartphones, the HTC One 2 and the LG G3, are expected to be launched earlier than originally planned in 2014. So far the companies haven’t confirmed anything about their smartphone plans for next year, perhaps things might be a bit more clear around the time when the Mobile World Congress is about to kick off.

HTC And LG Expected To Use Sapphire In Next Year’s Flagship Smartphones original content from Ubergizmo.

HTC has revealed its latest smartphone, the 5.9-inch big-screen sibling of the HTC One flagship device. The new HTC One Max is well into phablet territory at nearly 6 inches, but retains the slick aluminum case design of its smaller predecessor, as well as the somewhat dodgy Ultrapixel camera. But its full 1080p screen packs an impressive 349 ppi, and it has a fingerprint sensor on the back with some interesting tricks up its sleeve.

HTC’s fingerprint scanner is programmable for up to three separate fingers, which can instantly launch up to three separate apps without requiring unlocking or a trip to the home screen. That’s a twist on Apple’s iPhone 5s, which uses its built-in fingerprint scanner in place of a passcode, and for authorizing purchases made through the iTunes and App Stores.

The One Max fingerprint sensor can also unlock the phone, and is located on the back of the device just beneath the camera lens. That seems a somewhat awkward placement for it, judging from my experience with the LG G2′s weird back panel sleep/wake button and volume rocker, but given the HTC phone’s nearly edge-to-edge display and lack of a home button, there was really very few other places it could land.

Another key improvement for the HTC One Max is that it has expandable memory – there’s either 16GB or 32GB built-in, but you can take off the rear cover and put in a micro SD card for up to 64GB more, which is a considerable advantage. Other specs include a 1.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor (same as the One) and an IR blaster. It’s set to launch in Europe and Asia in October, and then it’ll make its way to the U.S. shortly after that, likely in early November.

HTC’s strategy with smartphone releases is evidently to take its core One device and tweak it to suit the tastes of multiple consumers; the One Max offers a big-screen experience, with the flash addition of the fingerprint scanner but with a slightly worse-off camera since it lacks optical image stabilization. The expandable memory is an interesting change, and could reflect an attempt by HTC to iterate based on customer feedback it has received from previous launches, but all told I’d still suspect the One Max has a hard time doing much to reverse HTC’s recent misfortunes.

As you can see in the video above, Apple’s new fingerprint sensor in the iPhone 5s isn’t restricted to human users. After commandeering a cat, I tested a colleague’s hypothesis that you could register the identifying skin segments of your favorite furry friends for Touch ID, too.

The cat’s paw worked, and while it encountered more frequent failures than did a fingerprint, it was able to unlock the phone again repeatedly when positioned correctly on the sensor. Note that no other paw pads would unlock the device, and that cats essentially have unique “fingerprints” just like people, so this doesn’t make the Touch ID sensor any less secure.

For the curious, I also tested the 5s fingerprint sensor on the heel of my palm, as well as on the inside of my forearm up around the wrist, and found that I could register and successfully unlock with both skin regions. Again, it was trickier to get the unlock to work consistently, and trying to fool the sensor by using the same part of the body on the opposing limb never worked.

To clarify, this isn’t a ‘hack’ of Apple Touch ID tech, like the kind a group of individuals is trying to crowdfund via the istouchidhackedyet.com covered earlier this morning by ZDNet. But it is a broadening of the definition of what counts as a “fingerprint” by the iPhone 5s scanner’s standards, so if you think your pet needs access to your accounts, feel free to register them as one of your five stored Touch ID profiles.

TechCrunch’s Natasha Lomas contributed to this article.

In less than two days Apple will finally unveil everything about its upcoming iPhones. The event has already been scheduled and the press invites have already been sent. Nevertheless, the rumors and leaks won’t stop coming in until the official announcement is made. A couple of pictures of a purported iPhone 5S box have surfaced online. The box shows off a redesigned home button, which hints at the possibility of iPhone 5S having a fingerprint scanner. It has been rumored time and again that Apple will add a fingerprint scanner in iPhone 5S, though no concrete proof of that is available right now.

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Purported iPhone 5S Box Shows Off Redesigned Home Button original content from Ubergizmo.

Time and again it has been rumored that iPhone 5S will feature a fingerprint sensor. Apple itself hasn’t even hinted at that possibility as yet, but the rumor mill is abuzz with such rumors. It has been said more than a couple of times that poor fingerprint sensor yield rates might cause supplies to be constrained at launch. A new rumor claims that since there are issues slowing down production of said fingerprint sensor, Apple might only be able to ship 4 million units of the iPhone 5S this quarter. 4 million might seem like an enormous figure, but for a new Apple smartphone that’s hotly anticipated, such low supply can’t possibly meet demand.

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iPhone 5S Fingerprint Sensor Production Issues Might Limit Device Supply To 4M Units This Quarter original content from Ubergizmo.