InFocus to Launch Aadhaar-Enabled Smartphone With Iris Scanning Feature
New Delhi, Dec 4 (PTI) US-based handset maker, InFocus has received certification from the Government of India’s STQC (Standardization Testing & Quality Certification) for its Aadhaar-Enabled Iris smartphone. InFocus will soon introduce a new smartphone in India that will support Aadhaar authentication using the iris scanner on the device. Rated at under Rs 12,000, the device will be made available early next year.
STQC certification validates the use of Iris- recognition devices, used for biometric authentication related under the Aadhaar project. "InFocus smartphone features IriTechs superior iris image quality assessment and onboard K7 generation algorithm to provide good quality images and avoid false positives while maximizing true positive identification rates," InFocus India Country Head Sachin Thapar told PTI.
“Based on the testing results done by STQC, InFocus Smartphone has emerged as the most reliable and accurate biometric device with virtually zero error as FRR (false reject rate),” claimed the company.
InFocus device will find its use as a safe and reliable biometric solution in various industries such as E-PDS (Electronic Public Distribution System), banking, MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural employment Guarantee Act) payments, E-governance services such as taxation, healthcare, passport, and education.
The solution will also allow the government, enterprises, and telecom companies to reorganize the process of an individual’s authentication and eKYC regardless of language and literacy barriers.
Presently, Samsung is the only phone maker to have already fixed Delta ID's ActiveIRIS technology in its Galaxy Tab Iris.
Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has held discussions with handset makers and operating system providers to embed the identification technology onto their devices. The use of smart devices that are Aadhaar-enabled will help people authenticate their Aadhaar biometrics on the phone itself to take advantage of various government schemes, subsidies, and services.
"The InFocus Aadhaar-enabled iris smartphone is a great example of the innovation possible on the Aadhaar platform. The phone is timely as it can be used for applications like opening instant bank accounts with eKYC and as a cashless micro ATM for merchant payments. This will accelerate JAM (Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile) implementation," said Nandan Nilekani, former Chairman of UIDAI.
InFocus Iris Enabled Smartphone is a 4G-VoLTE enabled smartphone that has 1GB RAM. It is powered by a 4.5-inch display which supports dual sim and comes with a 2,300mAh battery. Other specs include Android 5.1, 1.5 GHz quad-core processor, 8GB ROM which is expandable up to 64GB.
"Moreover, the biometric data from the InFocus device gets encrypted by a UIDAI key at the chip level in a device, making it impossible for anyone but the Aadhaar server to see the information. Such encryption prevents information leakage of all kinds," Thapar said.
"While the M425 will be made available in the next 2-3 months, we will bring more devices with this technology as we have received the certification," he added. Thapar was referring to an iris scanning variant of the InFocus Bingo 20 (M425), which was introduced in March this year at Rs. 5,749.