Samsung launches India's first tablet with 'iris recognition'

South Korean electronics giant Samsung on Wednesday launched India's first iris recognition-powered 7-inch tablet that can be used for various authentication-related processes like e-KYC (Know Your Customer), e-Sign and other government services like Jan-Dhan Yojana and e-Citizen.

The Rs.13,499 'Make in India' Samsung Galaxy tab iris is compliant with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) which provides real-time authentication and enables instant access to financial and citizen services like insurance, telecom user verification, airport immigration, etc.

"We're excited to offer biometric-based services to the billion plus people enrolled in Aadhaar," said Dr Aloknath De, corporate vice president, Samsung India (R&D).

"Our India R&D team has made significant investments in biometric technology research and we built this product leveraging our knowledge in hardware design, biometrics and security for a high speed scan, greater accuracy and high reliability," he added.

Along with the device, Samsung is providing an "Identity SDK" for application developers to build financial inclusion, payments and authentication solutions.

By implementing iris authentication, government departments can prevent duplication, misuse and leakage in government schemes like pension disbursement and verifying land records, etc.

For security, the tablet has 'Samsung Knox' enabled with 'Secure Boot' that protects it from unauthorised hacking attacks and produces UIDAI-compliant encrypted iris biometric packets.

On the specifications front, the 7-inch tablet has 1024X600 display, 1.2GHz quad-core processor, 1.5GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage that can be expanded up to 200GB and a 5MP camera rear camera.

The tablet has USB "On-the-go host" support that allows you to connect other devices like barcode scanner or a printer.

In order to fuel apps, the tablet houses 3,600mAh battery and runs on Android Lollipop operating system.

"We see great potential for the iris-technology solution to be used as a means of directly facilitating greater inclusion in the 'Digital India' programme," Sukesh Jain, vice president of Samsung India Electronics, told reporters here.

The tablet can address consumer pain points across platforms such as banking, finance, education by bringing enhanced usability, versatility and reliability all through one device," he added.

The tablet supports 14 languages, thus simplifying access and usage for people across the country.

No definite release date has been provided yet.

--IANS

anuj/na/dg