iPhone 5s/5c launch; Touch ID receives rave reviews
Walt Mossberg – AllThingsD:
On Touch ID:
Quote:
In my scores of tests, with three fingers, the reader never failed me and none of the 20 or so people I asked to test it was able to unlock the phone. If a finger match fails three times, the phone offers you a chance to type in your passcode instead. After five failures, it requires the passcode. Apple says the odds another person’s finger would work are 1 in 50,000, versus 1 in 10,000 for breaking a four-digit passcode.
There is one bug in the system: Sometimes, while trying to use a finger to authenticate an online purchase, the phone asks for a password. Apple says it expects to fix this bug very quickly.
Stuart Miles – Pocket-Lint:
- On iPhone 5s Touch ID:
Quote:
The technology behind the Touch ID sensor is incredibly technical, but it’s incredibly easy to use and, more importantly, set up. It works effortlessly too: resting your finger on the Home button opens your phone with zero delay and in time you will wonder how you ever lived without it.
TechCrunch – Darrell Etherington:
-On Touch ID:
Quote:
Once registered, you simply hold your finger on the iPhone, and it should unlock very quickly. It’s about as fast as swiping to unlock without a passcode, and much faster than entering even a simple four digit code. As Apple is fond of saying, “it just works,” recognizing your registered fingerprints regardless of how you place your digit on the sensor for the most part. I did encounter a few rare “try again” messages, but the frequency of those decreased over my time with the phone until they were non-existent, something which Apple says is due to the sensor being able to improve its success rate by learning more about your print over time.
Jim Dalrymple – The Loop:
- On Touch ID:
Quote:
It was almost immediate. It’s much quicker than entering in the passcode manually and all I have to do is rest my thumb on the Home button, which contains the fingerprint sensor.
In addition to the speed, the location of the sensor is key. There is no extra movement needed to activate fingerprint reading. That decision was vital in making the fingerprint sensor work for users—if you have to move to make it work, it may not be worth using.
Of course, you can still have a manual passcode. If you do, you are required to type this in the first time after you restart the device, and if something ever happened to your fingerprint, you have a way to access the phone.
Setting up a fingerprint is as easy as resting your finger on the Home button and following the onscreen instructions. The button will vibrate when it’s reading; lift your finger and rest it on the button again; and repeat until it’s done. Very simple.
Bloomberg:
Quote:
The Touch ID is built into the 5s home button. Once you’ve scanned your fingers -- I used both thumbs -- a light press of the button wakes the phone and simultaneously unlocks it. It works far better than any other biometric device I’ve used, not requiring your finger to be positioned just so. It makes security transparent and even pleasurable.
Scott Stein, CNET:
Quote:
The Touch ID-enabled home button feels invisible; it works with a tap, can recognize your finger from many angles, and feels like it has less of a fail rate than fingerprint sensors I’ve used on laptops. It’s impressive tech. It worked on all my fingers, and even my toe (I was curious).
David Pogue, The New York Times
Quote:
The most heavily promoted feature is the 5S’s fingerprint sensor, which, ingeniously, is built into the Home button. You push the Home button to wake the phone, leave your finger there another half second, and boom: you’ve unlocked a phone that nobody else can unlock, without the hassle of inputting the password. (And yes, a password is a hassle; half of smartphone users never bother setting one up.)
The best part is that it actually works — every single time, in my tests. It’s nothing like the balky, infuriating fingerprint-reader efforts of earlier cellphones. It’s genuinely awesome; the haters can go jump off a pier.
I'm happy with my 5 that I recently got, I can easily see myself using it for 2 years anyway. I feel like there is nothing more I need on it like it's speed is pretty much instantaneous and I don't need some fingerprint scanner for security anyway.
This is too soon, I want them release the new iPhone next summer. I'll buy the MacBook Pro with retina display on September 1st, I'll definitely get poor after that. Where the **** am I going to find them coins to buy the new iPhone? I'm so sick of my iPhone 4S, I'm gonna have to sell my body.
This is too soon, I want them release the new iPhone next summer. I'll buy the MacBook Pro with retina display on September 1st, I'll definitely get poor after that. Where the **** am I going to find them coins to buy the new iPhone? 
I'm so sick of my iPhone 4S, I'm gonna have to sell my body.