The launch of the iPhone 5S with a fingerprint reader motivated a multitude of Android smartphone manufacturers to take the idea of those from Cupertino in their own products, and Google was close to joining them. According to some information that appeared recently, those from Mountain View tested prototypes of Google Nexus 6 which had a fingerprint reader implemented to allow the securing of terminals and data.
Android source code contains information regarding the tests done by Google for a fingerprint reader available in the Google Nexus 6, but more than that, the company is also developing a special API for a fingerprint reading system. The most recent entry regarding the reading of fingerprints is from August of this year and it seems that Google would have chosen the company Validity Sensors for the implementation of the fingerprint reader, it being acquired by those from Synaptics during the last year.
The interesting part with those from Validity Sensors is that they develop technologies that allow the implementation of fingerprint readers directly in smartphone screens, this being the best solution for Android terminals without Home buttons. Considering that Google is testing a special API for reading fingerprints and securing Android or application data, it seems that there are serious reasons to believe that in the future we will see Android terminals that will read fingerprints directly from the screen.
Unfortunately, it is not known how long it will take until they reach the market, but it seems that Google did not intend to copy the way of implementing fingerprint readers based on what Apple did, but tried to come up with something new , innovative and extremely useful for Android, but probably the technology was not ready for launch.
