By: Clint Boulton, eWeek
Google has filed a patent application to test new ways of unlocking Android smartphones and tablets, according to the “Patently Apple” blog. These methods include icon and voice input. Google is working on new methods for allowing users to unlock Android smartphones and tablets built by Android OEMs, a move that could help Samsung and other OEM partners work around the “slide to unlock” method Apple has patented. Patently Apple—which, as the title of the blog suggests, usually sniffs out Apple patent filings from the labyrinthine U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Website—said Google is working on ways to let users unlock their phones with their voice and through using two icons. Most computers, mobile phones and tablets require some form of light authentication an owner must provide to access the device in the event that it is lost or stolen. While computers require passwords, phones and tablets tend to ask for four-digit passcodes or some sort of gesture-based pattern to unlock the device.
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