Google’s new update for Android Lollipop, came with many exciting features. Smart lock is one of them, it allows your device to know when not to ask for a password or a pattern. Smart lock disables the lock of the phone when it is near a trusted device such as a paired Bluetooth device or an NFC tag. When the phone is near these devices it knows that it is a trusted environment. More features of Smart lock include, location based unlocking where the phone is unlocked at safe places like your home or office.
This might be a trailer, as Google has a lot in store for authenticating your identity. Some sources hint at Google that it can use the Android Activity Recognition to control Smart locks. Activity Recognition is there with Android since 2013, which based upon the data from sensors predicts what kind of activity user is performing. Activity Recognition can very well predict whether the user is riding a bicycle or driving a car.
But, using the information that the user is driving a car to unlock the phone might sound absurd and too insecure. So exactly how Google will integrate the two might not be easy to comprehend for the mere mortals. They might use the gait analysis which can be used as a biometric recognition. Gait analysis use subtle differences in different walking styles to uniquely identify a person. Perhaps we should just wait for the announcement and let Google surprise us.
