Entire Screen on Galaxy S5 will be a Fingerprint Sensor

The road signs point to the fact that Samsung will most like unveil its latest flagship phone, the Galaxy S5 at the Mobile World Congress. Apparently, Samsung has sent out invites to a press conference that will be held in just about three weeks, on February 24.

The Mobile World Congress is a combination of the world's largest exhibition for the mobile industry and a conference featuring prominent executives representing mobile operators, device manufacturers, technology providers, vendors and content owners from across the world. It will be held in Barcelona.

The Galaxy S5 is said to be a more conservative smartphone offering from Samsung. Supposedly, the company will be taking a more restrained approach for the introduction. As you may recall, the release of the Galaxy S4 may have been a little over the top. It was compared to a Broadway style performance.

What we can report today is the fact that there has been a leak within Samsung India. Allegedly, someone who is considered to be a Samsung insider, who according to blog site iTechAddict is a “well-placed insider within Samsung India R&D" let some information slip through.

This inside source said that the Galaxy S5 will have one giant fingerprint sensor. If we can take this at face value, the entire screen will act as the sensor. That means that you can place your finger on any part of the screen and it will read your fingerprint and give you access to the phone’s apps.

Originally, Samsung was toying with the idea of an iris scanner as its security feature. However, it does seem that any eye-tracking technology has been shelved at this point. It is easier to implement a fingerprint scanner than an iris scanner.

The problem may be that Apple’s iPhone 5S already has that ability. It may look like Samsung is following in Apple’s footsteps rather than being original. At this point, it does seem a better route to take and one that at least does guarantee a sense of security.

There was also some speculation that the display would be a 2K ultra high resolution screen. However, the New York Times interviewed “A person with knowledge of the plans who was briefed on the specification” and it looks like neither the iris scanner, nor the 2K display will be featured on the Galaxy S5.

Even though the information about the fingerprint scanner comes to us from the well-placed insider at Samsung, keep in mind that it is still a leaked rumor at this time. I guess that we will all have to wait until February 24th and see what the unveil reveals.