Motion-Based Cell Phone Unlock

Remembering and entering passwords in anything is a major hassle, which is why everything should have seamless biometric identification built in. Failing that, KDDI has come up with a gesture based system that at least eliminates annoying number codes. Using an accelerometer, the phone looks for a specific pattern of movements as you bring it up to your ear. These movements depend on things like arm length, muscle structure, and patterns such as holding methods and other habits. According to KDDI, the error rate is only 4%, which is easily good enough for casual use.

As far as I can tell, there's no reason why something like this couldn't be implemented into any phone with an accelerometer, even without KDDI's fancy arm length etc. analysis software. You just have to turn the phone on, and shake shake shake it in a particular way, and it'll unlock. KDDI eventually plans on taking this technique a little further, allowing you to use specific motions to run programs or unlock your porn folder.

Source: ohgizmo.comAdded: 4 May 2009