Panasonic rolls out 'Face-unlock' feature for Eluga Ray 700

Panasonic has announced the official roll-out of 'Face Unlock' feature through an over the air update (FOTA) for their existing and new users on its Eluga Ray 700 smartphone. In order to enable the feature, the user needs to download the latest update and simply needs to access the 'Face Unlock' feature in Phone Settings menu. The user can then launch it to register his/her face for the first time; once the facial characteristics are registered, the user can use it to unlock the phone by exposing the display towards his/her face.

The Face Unlock feature is an AI-enabled feature and provides safety to the user by preventing fake events like unlocking through face image - digital or print, unlocking with face with closed eyes etc. It is not a forced application and the user may choose to use Fingerprint sensor or other conventional ways to lock/unlock the device.

Talking about the update, Mr. Pankaj Rana, Business Head - Mobility Division, Panasonic India, said, "Face Recognition has now become a new trend of securing authentication for smartphone phones. Through this feature, the user can simply unlock their smartphone just by looking at it and the response is quick with an accuracy rate of over 95% when compared to a PIN or fingerprint sensor. We are planning to introduce this feature in some of our upcoming smartphones as well."

The Eluga Ray 700 was launched in September 2017. It comes with a 5.50-inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 1080 pixels by 1920 pixels. The smartphone is powered by 1.3GHz octa-core Mediatek MTK6753 processor which is paired with 3GB of RAM.

The phone offers 32GB of internal storage that can be expanded up to 128GB via microSD card. Panasonic Eluga Ray 700 sports a 13-megapixel primary camera on the rear and a 13-megapixel front shooter for selfies. The handset runs on Android 7.0 and is backed by a 5000mAh battery.

The dual SIM smartphone offers connectivity options like Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, USB OTG, FM, 3G and 4G (with support for Band 40 used by some LTE networks in India). Sensors onboard include Compass Magnetometer, Proximity sensor, Accelerometer and Ambient light sensor.