Sony’s latest flagship smartphones are available globally… but if you buy the Xperia X Compact or Xperia XZ in the United States, you’ll get a phone with a non-functioning fingerprint sensor.
But it turns out that’s a limitation of the phone’s software, not it’s hardware.
Want to use the fingerprint reader in the United States? You can just flash the UK version of the phone’s firmware.
Xda-developers forum member drrobo outlines the process. It takes a few steps and it will wipe your data, so make sure to backup any important files before getting started. But after the update you should be able to use the fingerprint sensor, along with all the phone’s other features.
Sony’s fingerprint sensors, by the way, are built into the power button on the side of the phone, allowing you to unlock your phone using the same button that you’d normally press to simply turn on the display.
While drrobo’s instructions are written for the Xperia X Compact, the folks at Xperia Blog note that they work for the Xperia XZ smartphone as well.
via Android Police
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Just remember in the USA the police can compel you to place your finger on the fingerprint sensor. They cannot compel you to give up your password.
When they take you to custody and take your fingerprints, it’s pretty straightforward to unlock any fingerprint-enabled phone. So the best way to go is not committing anything that might place you in such a situation, and if you still do, don’t store evidence on the phone.
What about if the police are the ones in the wrong, and you – the citizen – are the one who is in the right? Imagine you have a video on your phone of a police officer committing a crime, and they’d like to get into your phone/computer to delete the video and remove it from your iCloud/Gdrive/Dropbox before it’s made public?
Your argument about “Not commiting any crimes” is adorable, but, sadly, ingenuous.
My point is, if they have your fingerprint and your fingerprint unlockable phone, they don’t need the finger.
True, but improved (or maybe even current) technology could render that less feasible. What won’t change, however, is the power of the authorities to compel you (or manually force you) to put your finger on the phone and unlock it. Biometric security, of any kind, is less secure than a password in the U.S.
biometrices /aren’t/ an Authrization Token. At best they are an Identity Token, like usernames. You can’t replace or revoke a finger print from your hand…
I’m not sure I completely follow. I’ve never unlocked my phone with my username alone. I have unlocked my phone with a fingerprint. From a practical standpoint, they are being used as passwords, or as a proxy for a password.
I’m say that every place you are able to use you finger to authenticate (ie unlocking your phone) has horrible security practices.
Agreed. That’s the point I was trying to make.
Funny, I just disabled it on my X Compact (Europe). A fingerprint is always less secure than a password. Actually it’s not a password, it’s more like an email address, well known by anybody targeting you. Plenty of fingerprints all over my phone.