Synaptics Shows Gaming Mice and Keyboards With Fingerprint Security at CES 2016
Synaptics Shows Gaming Mice and Keyboards with Fingerprint Security
Synaptics is easily the best at developing and designing the Touchpad that is in nearly every laptop. They are continually looking to make improvements in their technology to make it more user friendly and add additional features. In the past some of those additional features included the integrated scroll points, multi-touch and press-to-click. Now they are looking to make further refinements in the sensitivity of their Touchpad and to included fingerprint security to allow users to log into their systems faster and make logging into FIDO compliant websites simple.
First though, let’s take a look at how easy Synaptics is making it to register your fingerprints on your system, you are not limited to just one finger; now you can use all 10 fingers, ensuring that you can use the most convenient when you are signing into the system. With an appropriate device, simply select the finger you want to scan and place it onto the scanner. Within moments your fingerprint it read and entered into the system. You can now use your fingerprint for any number of security uses, such as signing into Windows.
Now, let’s take a look at what Synaptics is doing with the fingerprint scanners. We have all seen those ugly black bars on laptops that are bubbled up for you to use. In my past experience they are not entirely reliable. The sensors on the latest cell phones are much more responsive. So Synaptics has taken that technology and looked to integrate it into your devices, such as the Touchpad that is on nearly every laptop. With this FIDO compliant fingerprint scanner you can sign into Windows and various websites with your fingerprints rather than having to type in a password. Synaptics didn’t drop other technology to integrate the fingerprint scanner, they still have their Typeguard technology making it easier not to accidentially move or click the cursor when typing.
Oh, you have a desktop and want to use fingerprints to log into Windows and websites. No problem, Synaptics has thought of that as well. Integrating a fingerprint scanner into a keyboard is easier than over with their latest scanner. They have retrofitted a Corsair keyboard with a fingerprint scanner to show how easy it can be done. Once the fingerprint is registered you can use any of the fingers on the sensor to log in. Also, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a “straight” touch, you can touch it at an angle if that’s more comfortable due to the placement. This is purely a proof of concept, currently there are no keyboard with this embedded.
If you want it now, TT eSports has taken the Synaptics sensor and embedded it into their Black V2 mouse. While the mouse is not available to purchase right now, TT eSports is looking to release it sometime in the first half of 2016. However, Legit Reviews has obtained a demo device and will be taking a closer look at this mouse very shortly.
While security is important, Synaptics is also working on a few other enhancements to make their touchpads even better than they already are. They are making the touchpad much more sensitive, so you can use a stylus to write onto the touchpad. Granted, this is technically nothing new, we have these kind of writing pads already. However, integrating the writing pad along with the touchpad makes for a much smoother integration and will allow users to do digital signatures, handwriting or drawings directly onto the touchpad.
That’s not the last advanced feature that Synaptics is working on for the Touchpad, they are also working on a force feedback system. With this system, when you click you get a haptic response so you know that you clicked. If you use the Touchpad to scroll, you can get a sort of vibration as you are scrolling, similar to the clicks on a mouse wheel.
Some of these new features do not necessarily have a date for release, they are still looking to get perfected and get vendors to integrated them into their systems. From the looks of it Synaptics has some really cool sensors that we should be seeing more of in the near future.