3D Face Unlock: problem, issue, inaccurate

[denzel09]

Hey, have this phone from yesterday, europe dual sim version. How is for you the 3d face unlock?
I feel it's often inaccurate and in these cases it it does not unlock the phone.

Also, when i am in a dark room wit a good light behind me it's often inaccurate and, again, in these cases it it does not unlock the phone always.
In fact, if you try to register your face in this last condition you will see the face very very dark and this is a problem obviously for the face unlock.
I remember this last same "dark" problem also with the P20 Pro sensor.

What you think? Any solutions? Maybe in next updates?

Edit 1: https://www.reddit.com/r/Huawei/comments/9rnmpa/mate_20_pro_face_unlock_issues/
Edit 2:

I'm having similar issues here.. It will work perfectly sometimes and then just doesn't

 

[denzel09]

UP

 

[denzel09]

https://www.reddit.com/r/Huawei/comments/9rnmpa/mate_20_pro_face_unlock_issues/

 

[denzel09]

Edit 2:

I'm having similar issues here.. It will work perfectly sometimes and then just doesn't

 

[0alfred0]

just dont register your face in bad lighting conditions where it cannot be registered properly. I dont understand your problem tbh. Face unlock is a combination of the infrared thing and the camera.... if you use your phone while sitting in front of a bright light you cannot expect it to work. its like having wet or dirty fingers and comlpaining fingerprint isnt working.

 

[denzel09]

just dont register your face in bad lighting conditions where it cannot be registered properly. I dont understand your problem tbh. Face unlock is a combination of the infrared thing and the camera.... if you use your phone while sitting in front of a bright light you cannot expect it to work. its like having wet or dirty fingers and comlpaining fingerprint isnt working.

Conditions are good.

if you use your phone while sitting in front of a bright light

.... behind of a bright light, as written in first post, in fact if i try to register face in this last condition face is almost dark, but in this case the infrared camera should not help anyway?

With my iphone x in the SAME condition the face unlock works ALWAYS instantly, so i can see the difference.

 

[0alfred0]

Conditions are good.

.... behind of a bright light, as written in first post, in fact if i try to register face in this last condition face is almost dark, but in this case the infrared camera should not help anyway?

With my iphone x in the SAME condition the face unlock works ALWAYS instantly, so i can see the difference.

Well if you register your face in good lighting and the unlock does not work in good lighting then there is probably something wrong. You should contact huawei about that.

If you are trying to create a bad lighting condition on purpose and then it doesnt work I am not sure why you do this. There is no point. If you are in everyday live, like in a bar or pub and the lighting is bad you have to expect that face unlock is not going to be the most reliable. Its that simple. Sitting at home and trying to push it to its limits does not benefit you at all.

It is not as secure nor the same technology as face ID so there is no point in comparing them. If FaceID is better you have to accept it. No update can change the hardware.... maybe it will be optimized but it is not going to improve by 100%.

 

[David Horn]

Surely ambient light has nothing to do with the face unlock method used here, as the camera is searching for an IR dot pattern. If anything, I'd expect it to work better in the dark.

 

[denzel09]

Well if you register your face in good lighting and the unlock does not work in good lighting then there is probably something wrong. You should contact huawei about that.

If you are trying to create a bad lighting condition on purpose and then it doesnt work I am not sure why you do this. There is no point. If you are in everyday live, like in a bar or pub and the lighting is bad you have to expect that face unlock is not going to be the most reliable. Its that simple. Sitting at home and trying to push it to its limits does not benefit you at all.

It is not as secure nor the same technology as face ID so there is no point in comparing them. If FaceID is better you have to accept it. No update can change the hardware.... maybe it will be optimized but it is not going to improve by 100%.

It works in good light but it's not accurate like FaceID or also other 2D unlock tried until now. It's not accurate, for example, when I'm sitting in an armchair often it wants certain angles to unlock, etc..

I can understand your point about create "bad light condition". Until few days ago i had a One Plus 6 with 2D face unlock, but not only it, and in the same Mate 20 conditions i had no one single problem with angles or light behind me! Maybe it's a bit hard to explain..

 

[denzel09]

Surely ambient light has nothing to do with the face unlock method used here, as the camera is searching for an IR dot pattern. If anything, I'd expect it to work better in the dark.

In fact it is the same thing that I thought! "Better in the dark", but in the evening when there is an artificial light behind me, sitting in an armchair, the unlock starts to have a bit of difficulty. And instead it should be the opposite, it should work better.
In this situation if i try to register my face in fact i see my face really dark cause the light behind me goes exactly on the sensor. Same thing with P20 Pro sensor. Only with Huawei i have seen this "problem". Nor with Samsung, nor with One Plus nor with Pocophone, etc..

It's really strange.

 

[roosta]

Check the software/EMUI problem thread, see if anyone else is reporting it. Otherwise, it's news to me.

 

[denzel09]

Check the software/EMUI problem thread, see if anyone else is reporting it. Otherwise, it's news to me.

I think no one until now. Like no one with P20 Pro. Surely it's not fast like Apple Face ID. In same conditions. Sure about this because i have both with me so...

 

[0alfred0]

In fact it is the same thing that I thought! "Better in the dark", but in the evening when there is an artificial light behind me, sitting in an armchair, the unlock starts to have a bit of difficulty. And instead it should be the opposite, it should work better.
In this situation if i try to register my face in fact i see my face really dark cause the light behind me goes exactly on the sensor. Same thing with P20 Pro sensor. Only with Huawei i have seen this "problem". Nor with Samsung, nor with One Plus nor with Pocophone, etc..

It's really strange.

for comparison. I just tested bad lighting with my mate 10 pro... worked just fine... immediate unlock

i am not sure about the IR thing. it should definately work with no light but i am not sure if it is able to "work against" light. if your light sends out inrared wavelengths it will definately interfere with the IR projector. I am pretty sure though it sends out infrared wavelengths since it gets hot.... heat=infrared light (that how heat cameras work).

 

[roosta]

I think no one until now. Like no one with P20 Pro. Surely it's not fast like Apple Face ID. In same conditions. Sure about this because i have both with me so...

Apple were the first to introduce dot-mapping (or whatever they call the technology) to scan all areas, from left to right, of the face. The android versions on phones is more watered down...but it seems Huawei are using their own software of facial mapping which I imagine is designed to work the same as Face ID on Apple...but as there's some bugs with the pre-releases, I'd potentially wait and update the phone in 3-4 weeks to see if it resolve the issue.

RoOSTA

 

[denzel09]

for comparison. I just tested bad lighting with my mate 10 pro... worked just fine... immediate unlock

It was perfect in my "condition" with mate 10 pro with light behind me and against the cam. Because it used only the frontal cam! When i tried to register my face with Mate 10 in "my condition" my face was no dark and clearly visible!
This IS a big difference and here there is an "error" starting from P20 Pro to Mate 20 Pro.

i am not sure about the IR thing. it should definately work with no light but i am not sure if it is able to "work against" light. if your light sends out inrared wavelengths it will definately interfere with the IR projector. I am pretty sure though it sends out infrared wavelengths since it gets hot.... heat=infrared light (that how heat cameras work).

Perfect point of view. Problem is: with iPhone X the IR "thing" works PERFECT against light, etc..

 

[denzel09]

Apple were the first to introduce dot-mapping (or whatever they call the technology) to scan all areas, from left to right, of the face. The android versions on phones is more watered down...but it seems Huawei are using their own software of facial mapping which I imagine is designed to work the same as Face ID on Apple...but as there's some bugs with the pre-releases, I'd potentially wait and update the phone in 3-4 weeks to see if it resolve the issue.

RoOSTA

Yes, completely agree with you.
But i have a little doubt, this last comes from P20 PRO, also this with light behind me and against the sensor shows me my face all "dark" and obviously no update "fixed" this. I remember with this phone in my situation was IMPOSSIBLE use the 2D face unlock.
Idk honestly if an update here can improve this kind of sensor. I hope!

 

[denzel09]

https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=77998095&postcount=83

Facial recognition evidently hates sunlight. If your face is side on to the sun it won't work, you have to either be in shadow or directly in the sun. The fingerprint scanner I'm also finding to be very hit and miss. I have just been out using it to take some photos, lost count of the number of times both methods of unlocking didn't work.

 

[denzel09]

Edit...

 

[orbital247]

It seems to me like a directional or sensor spread issue,
If i hold the phone level with my eyes and head straight (straight neck) it works perfectly, if i'm at my desk with it in my hand looking down at it then it doesn't. If i raise my head and phone vertical as its giving me the 'recognising face' message then it unlocks just as i hit vertical/straight neck.
Problem is i look a t**t raising my phone every time i want to unlock it (looks like i'm checking myself out in a vanity mirror!!)
Had the iPhone XS before this and it worked flawlessly head down or not.
Can someone else who is having issues test this theory?

 

[denzel09]

Edit......