An innovation which lets you define personalized pass-codes which you draw on the locked screen to unlock applications like messaging, camera, email, home-screen and many more.
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Swiping from the home screen through the app grid was smooth, and in fact, all the graphical transitions we saw -- from the unlock screen to opening various apps -- were quite fluid as well.
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The Ascend G 330 runs Android's Ice Cream Sandwich operating system, and incorporates Huawei's own HAP 5.1 Android interface, which enables easy one-step access to key features from the unlock screen, including call, messaging and camera functions.
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We're particularly fond of the unlock screen, which has three icons at the bottom that can be swiped-up like an Android app drawer, but with quick access to phone and messages, similar to how Windows Mobile 6.5 can be unlocked into multiple modes.
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When the camera's completely switched off, hit the power button and you'll go straight into camera mode which lets you shoot immediately, then about half a minute later the interface seamlessly goes back to smart mode, which is when you can hit the back or home button to toggle the Android unlock screen (though we'd rather go straight into the home screen).
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The app can run in the background, and your lock screen wallpaper even turns into the current navigation step, so you won't be tempted to touch your phone and unlock the screen.
With its eye-catchingly brilliant screen, Samsung's latest TouchWiz 3.0 user interface gives a tactile, intuitive user experience, and includes iconic new features such as motion UI, Smart Unlock and customizable widget screen.
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Generally, these manufacturer skins exist with the claimed goal of enhancing the platform's stock functionality, but we actually found a case on the Epic where the opposite is true: the phone's lock screen consists of a circle in the center of the screen that you drag up to unlock... and that's it.
Rather than using a passcode or swipe pattern to unlock the phone's screen, the new handset's fingerprint sensor allows users to simply press and slide a finger across a switch to quickly unlock it.
Then, after locking the device, attempting to unlock it will send you to the palm authentication screen, seen above, where (hopefully) only your mitts will be able to gain access.
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Seven different lock screens are also on the menu, which range from secure options such as Face Unlock, PIN and password to a rotary style screen that offers up to six apps for quick launch access.
If you ever toggle the screen off, you'd need to touch the panel to unlock it again and restart recording -- an action that's impossible with the waterproof case.
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For those using Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, Google has also built a Keep widget, which can be placed on your Android homescreen, or on your phone or tablet's lock screen, which would enable users to add a reminder without even having to unlock their device.
Case in point: I was able to unlock the phone by holding a photo of my face up to its lock screen.
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