After years of work by Apple and Google to ensure that no app on your phone can turn on its cameras without you knowing it, the company behind the chipsets in most Android smartphones now wants to keep the front camera on all the time.
Qualcomm announced this “always-on camera” feature as a component of the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, a mobile chip platform that will ship in some smartphones by the end of the year, at its Snapdragon Tech Summit in Waimea, Hawaii. And executives with that San Diego company want you to welcome this lidless electronic eye as a privacy upgrade.
“We have a vision for the always-on camera to enhance privacy and security,” said Judd Heape, a product-management vice president, in a keynote on Tuesday afternoon. “By having a camera always on, we can make sure you’re always in front of the camera and in charge of the content.”
For example, he explained, a phone with this feature enabled could lock the screen automatically if the user’s face has…
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Source : fastcompany.com
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