HTC U12+ hands-on preview: Big, beautiful, unattainable

Sleek, modern, and still not coming to U.S. carriers.

HTC has been experiencing quite the rough patch throughout the last couple of years. Once a fan favorite with phones like the One M7 that pushed design boundaries and experimented with camera and audio tech, the Taiwanese company now struggles to sell units in any significant capacity. In fact, many average consumers don’t even recognize the brand name anymore — at least in the States.

That’s partly because HTC’s recent flagships haven’t even been available in the U.S. Sure, you can buy an unlocked U11 directly from htc.com, but that’s just not how American consumers buy phones. Most people want to walk into their local carrier store, see their options up close, and finance a phone through their monthly bill. Without any retail presence, HTC has been gradually fading into obscurity, despite its excellent flagship-tier devices.

That’s precisely what makes HTC’s latest phone, the U12+, frustrating from the get-go. While it supports the AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon networks (sorry, Sprint), the U12+ won’t actually be available in any brick-and-mortar stores — just htc.com and Amazon, where you can already pre-order a unit. That’s a real shame, because based on my brief time with the phone so far, there’s a lot to like about it.

See at HTC

HTC U12+ Hands-on video

If you’re not in a reading mood, check out our hands-on preview video instead! If, on the other hand, you want a more detailed summary on the phone, read on for my full impressions.

HTC U12+ Hardware and specs

Let’s clear the air right away: the U12+ is the only model HTC is announcing at this time. There was no smaller U12 at our private briefing, and HTC tells us that there are no current plans for one. So why use the Plus moniker? HTC simply wanted to convey that the U12+ is a large phone, which feels slightly misleading without a U12 proper.

Thankfully, the U12+ lives up to HTC’s reputation of gorgeous industrial design, with the glass-and-metal sandwich we’ve come to expect from a 2018 release. It uses the same Liquid Surface design language as last year’s U11 and U11+, with a comfortably arched backing and rounded corners, though it takes more after the latter in terms of layout. This is a modern device with an 18:9 display and a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor — though notch haters rejoice, there’s nothing protruding into the top of the display.

Speaking of the display, it’s a 6-inch Super LCD 6 panel, bearing a Quad HD+ resolution — that’s 2880 x 1440 — and protected by an unspecified version of Gorilla Glass. While I typically prefer OLED displays, the U12+ looked fantastic during my brief hands-on time, easily outshining the brightly lit room and even direct sunlight. The elongated aspect ratio of the display also allows for the much larger screen in a body that’s just a few millimeters taller than the U11, and even slightly narrower. With this in mind, it’s easy to see why there’s no smaller U12 — though don’t be fooled, this is still a large phone.

Around the back, the U12+ looks a bit like a cross between the U11+ and the LG G6, with HTC’s first dual camera assembly since the One M8. It’s aligned horizontally, and comprised of a 12MP primary sensor and a 16MP telephoto lens — more on that in a little bit. The real talking point on the back of the phone is the trio of eye-catching high-gloss finishes. The Ceramic Black (which is more of a deep gray) and color-shifting Flame Red finishes look fantastic, but HTC’s big focus this year is the transcendent Translucent Blue. It’s not quite as sharp as the see-through U11+ if you ask me, but it’s still striking to be able to see the phone’s inner components, and this is the model being pushed to most markets.

Translucent Blue is the most visually striking finish, and the one HTC is pushing to most markets.

As far as specs go, the U12+ is equipped to go head-on against the Galaxy S9+ and LG G7 with a 2.8GHz Snapdragon 845 chipset, along with 6GB of RAM and either 64GB or 128GB of storage, expandable via microSD. There’s a fairly large battery inside — 3500mAh, to be exact — and it’s Quick Charge 4.0-compatible, with a Quick Charge 3.0 charger included in the box.

There’s no headphone jack, and the U12+ still doesn’t support wireless charging despite a glass back — HTC says it likely won’t support wireless charging until it’s at speed parity with wired, though I just don’t see the problem with having either option available.

On the bright side, the U12+ still features HTC’s dual speaker BoomSound setup, using the earpiece as a tweeter and the bottom-firing speaker as a subwoofer. While not quite as effective as the traditional BoomSound layout with dual front-firing speakers, I find this arrangement to be the perfect compromise between loud, high-quality output and slim bezels. I haven’t yet experienced LG’s Boombox feature on the G7, but the U12+ sounded plenty loud and clear on a conference room table.

Much like Apple’s Force Touch, the buttons on the U12+ don’t actually depress, they just “click” back at you.

The most interesting part of the U12+’s hardware is something I didn’t notice until I picked the phone up — at which point it made itself immediately obvious. Those power and volume buttons on the righthand side of the frame? They’re not buttons. Just like the Force Touch trackpad on recent MacBooks, the buttons on the side of the U12+ are non-moving parts that use HTC’s Edge Sense technology to detect pressure and “click” back at you. It’s a strange feeling, and it didn’t seem to work too well on the pre-production units I handled, with plenty of false positives and missed presses, but it’s certainly an interesting idea and helps to ensure the phone’s sealing for its IP68 water ingress rating.

HTC U12+ Software and features

The U12+ is running Android 8.0 Oreo, with HTC’s Sense interface in the passenger seat. Though 8.1 would’ve been nice to see, the company claims that it’s already working on the Android P update, which should be available later this year. This is largely the same software experience as the U11+, with on-screen buttons and pressure-activated actions enabled along the sides of the phone — the latter of which is one of the most significant updates to the U12+.

Edge Sense 2 is the biggest refinement of the U12+’s software experience over previous devices.

Dubbed Edge Sense 2, HTC’s pressure-sensitive technology is getting revamped with a handful of useful new features that fans of the original Edge Sense on the U11 and Pixel 2 will likely appreciate. Last year’s phones were able to recognize squeezes of different pressures, but the U12+ is a bit more sensitive, now able to read light taps as well. You can double-tap on either side of the phone and the software will quickly shrink down to one-handed mode — it even recognizes which side you tapped and shifts the minimized screen in that direction.

My favorite feature of Edge Sense 2 is Smart Rotate. The U12+ recognizes when it’s being held in portrait orientation (based on how your fingers are touching the sides) and automatically disables rotation until you let go or shift the phone’s position in your hand. As someone who hates having to disable auto rotation when laying in bed, I’m very excited to have such a practical feature in Edge Sense — and better yet, one you never even have to think about. Still, I’m concerned about whether or not these less pressure-based actions will be possible through a case. We’ll have to wait and see, I suppose.

If you don’t like this or any other Edge Sense 2 feature, though, you can reprogram almost any action to do basically whatever you want. If you’re coming from a Pixel 2, for example, you might find it more natural to set a squeeze to launch Google Assistant, rather than toggling the flashlight, as was the default setting on the units I handled. Then again, you might prefer Amazon’s Alexa service, which comes pre-installed on the U12+. You can set that to launch with a squeeze instead, or set it to something different like a double-tap to have both options quickly accessible.

Edge Sense 2 aside, this is pretty standard fare Android 8.0. You’ll still get HTC’s collection of apps and services, including the BlinkFeed timeline to the left of your home screens, but that can all be disabled or covered with a third-party launcher if you prefer a more stock look and feel. Perhaps the only gripe I have with the software is that there’s no support for gestures on the fingerprint sensor (i.e. swiping down to open the notification shade), but HTC says that this was a deliberate decision to avoid confusing consumers, given how many tasks are already possible through Edge Sense.

HTC U12+ Cameras

HTC has toyed with dual cameras in the past — most famously with the One M8, and going as far back as the EVO 3D — but it never played out terribly well. This is the company’s first foray back into dual cameras since they became a standard feature on almost every modern flagship, and while I haven’t gotten to spend any quality time with them just yet, they sound promising on paper.

HTC doesn’t have a great history with dual cameras, but the U12+ looks promising.

The primary camera is a wide-angle 12MP UltraPixel 4 sensor (1.4μm) with an ƒ/1.75 aperture, while the secondary camera is a telephoto 16MP sensor (1.0μm) at ƒ/2.0 that allows for 2x optical zoom and 10x digital zoom. Like with most phones, the cameras work together for portrait mode photography, but (mostly) unique to HTC is the ability to change the point of focus after you’ve already taken the photo. Both lenses sport OIS and EIS for stabilization, as well as what HTC calls UltraSpeed Autofocus 2 — which is essentially just a combination of phase detection and laser autofocus. For what it’s worth, the U12+ received a DxOMark score of 103, losing out only to the Huawei P20 Pro’s score of 109.

When it comes to video, the U12+ can shoot in 4K at up to 60fps in h.265, or you can slow things down with 240fps slow-motion video in 1080p. HTC acknowledged that other phones like the Galaxy S9 can shoot at much faster frame rates, but didn’t want to step all the down to 720p to achieve it with the U12+. While you’re filming, you can smoothly zoom in on a subject with one touch, and even directionally amplify the audio using Sonic Zoom (previously called Acoustic Focus); using the four microphones found on the U12+, HTC claims Sonic Zoom is 60% louder and 33% more focused than on the U11.

The U12+ features dual front-facing cameras as well, totaling up to four sensors across the device. Both selfie cams are wide-angle, with an 84° field of view — in fact, they’re the exact same 8MP 1.12μm f/2.0 sensors. When used together, they allow for the same portrait mode features as the rear cameras, including refocusing after the fact. While these cameras don’t have OIS like the rear sensors, the EIS should be enough to stabilize group selfies and walking vlogs.

HTC U12+ Hands-on preview

I’ve gone this entire time without mentioning the U12+’s price, because well … it’s a doozie. The 64GB U12+ is up for pre-order now in either Translucent Blue or Ceramic Black for a whopping $799, and up another $50 if you want the 128GB trim (only available in Translucent Blue), with no word on Flame Red availability. That’s right up in Galaxy S9+ and LG G7 territory, and while there are certainly people who would be better suited with the U12+ (I’m certainly interested), HTC just doesn’t have the leverage to be asking for as much as or more than Samsung and LG anymore.

HTC is offering direct financing for the U12+ to soften the blow ($34/mo for 24 months at 0% APR), but this still doesn’t do anything to help with its lack of retail presence; you won’t be able to buy the U12+ in any physical stores in the U.S. or Canada (where the 64GB model costs $1099 CAD and the 128GB option is $1169 CAD), and that’s a huge problem if the company hopes to sell its new flagship in any capacity in North America. Though, quite honestly, I’m not convinced that it does anymore.

As much as I want to see HTC succeed, I’m doubtful that the U12+ will do anything to fix its predicament. Not just because of its high pricing and limited availability, but because aside from a few pretty paint jobs, it really doesn’t do much to differentiate from the much more accessible competition.

See at HTC

HTC U12+ specifications: Dual cameras, BoomSound, Edge Sense 2 for $800

It’s everything you want in a 2018 flagship — for a price.

There’s a lot to like about HTC’s U12+ flagship, including some innovative features that are sure to turn heads. With an all-glass design and optional translucent back, the phone is very similar to most high-end Android phones in 2018: a Snapdragon 845 processor, 6GB of RAM, a 6-inch QHD display with a 2:1 aspect ratio, dual cameras, and a 3,500mAh battery. Oh, and Android 8.0.

But at $800, can HTC turn turning heads into sales?

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Apple Supplier TSMC Begins Production on Processors Destined for 2018 iPhones

Apple supplier TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) has started production on the next-generation 7-nanometer A12 chips that will be used in the 2018 iPhone lineup, reports Bloomberg.

TSMC in late April announced that its 7-nanometer process node has entered into high volume manufacturing, but did not specify that it was working on the Apple A12 processors set to be built into the iPhones that are expected in September.

The new 7-nanometer chips will offer approximately 40 percent power and area benefit over the 10-nanometer process used for the A11 processors in the 2017 iPhones. As Bloomberg says, the chips will be smaller, faster, and more efficient.

TSMC is believed to be the sole partner Apple is working with on the A12 chip. TSMC was also Apple’s only supplier for the A11 chips in the iPhone X, 8, and 8 Plus.

All three of Apple’s 2018 iPhones are expected to adopt the A12 chips that are currently in development. Rumors suggest Apple is working on a second-generation 5.8-inch OLED iPhone that’s a successor to the iPhone X, a larger 6.5-inch OLED iPhone that can be thought of as an “iPhone X Plus,” and a lower-cost 6.1-inch LCD iPhone.

Along with A12 chips, all three are expected to include a TrueDepth camera system for Face ID capabilities and an edge-to-edge design with minimal bezels and no Home button.

Related Roundup: 2018 iPhones
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Craig Federighi Says Apple Intends to Address APFS Support for Fusion Drives ‘Very Soon’

Apple is planning to share news on APFS support for Fusion Drives “very soon,” Apple software engineering chief Craig Federighi told MacRumors reader Jonathan in an email this afternoon.

Federighi shared the detail after Jonathan sent him an email asking whether or not APFS was still in the works for Fusion Drives, which combine a hard drive with flash storage to provide the speed of an SSD with the affordability of a standard hard drive. Fusion Drives are used in iMacs and Mac mini machines.

In response to Jonathan’s question, Federighi gave a short but enticing answer, which we verified:

Hi Jonathan,

We intend to address this question very soon…

Thanks,

– craig

With the launch of macOS High Sierra, Apple introduced a new Apple File System for Macs that have all-flash built-in storage. At the time macOS High Sierra was introduced, Apple said that the initial release of the software would not allow Fusion Drives to be converted to APFS, but confirmed APFS support would be coming at a later date.

Since then, iMac and Mac mini owners who have Fusion Drives have been eagerly waiting for Apple to implement support for the feature, but in update after update, no APFS support for Fusion Drives has materialized.

Federighi’s statement suggests that APFS will be added as a feature in an upcoming software update, perhaps the macOS 10.14 update that’s expected to be unveiled at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

For those unfamiliar with the new Apple File System, it’s a more modern file system than HFS+ and has been optimized for solid state drives. It is safe and secure, offering crash protection, safe document saves, stable snapshots, simplified backups, strong native encryption, and more.

Related Roundup: macOS 10.14Tag: Craig Federighi
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FBI ‘Grossly Inflated’ Statistics on Investigations Stymied by Encrypted Smartphones

The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation provided Congress with “grossly inflated” statistics on the number of electronic devices it has been been unable to access due to encryption, reports The Washington Post.

Last year, the FBI claimed to have been locked out of close to 7,800 devices that were connected to crimes, but the actual number of devices that were inaccessible is smaller, closer in scope to between 1,000 and 2,000. The FBI discovered an error in the method used for counting encrypted smartphones last month, and has not yet completed a full internal audit to determine the correct number.

“The FBI’s initial assessment is that programming errors resulted in significant over-counting of mobile devices reported,” the FBI said in a statement Tuesday. The bureau said the problem stemmed from the use of three distinct databases that led to repeated counting of the same phones. Tests of the methodology conducted in April 2016 failed to detect the flaw, according to people familiar with the work.

The FBI’s inflated numbers are a problem because FBI director Christopher Wray has, at several points in time, used those statistics to warn of the dangers criminals using encryption to “go dark” and evade law enforcement oversight.

Back in October, for example, Wray said the inability to access such a large number of encrypted smartphones was a major problem. “To put it mildly, this is a huge, huge problem,” said Wray. “It impacts investigations across the board – narcotics, human trafficking, counterterrorism, counterintelligence, gangs, organized crime, child exploitation.”

In another such speech in January, Wray used the inflated figure to describe encryption as an “urgent public safety issue.”

“While the FBI and law enforcement happen to be on the front lines of this problem, this is an urgent public safety issue for all of us. Because as horrifying as 7,800 in one year sounds, it’s going to be a lot worse in just a couple of years if we don’t find a responsible solution.”

These kinds of statistics have also been used by the FBI to advocate for backdoors into encrypted devices like the iPhone.

In 2016, for example, Apple and the FBI had now-famous dispute over the iPhone 5c used by San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook. The FBI demanded that Apple create a tool to allow law enforcement officials to disable passcode security features so they could hack into the device, effectively weakening its protection.

Apple staunchly refused and argued that such a request could set a “dangerous precedent,” a position the company has maintained since then as law enforcement officials have continued to advocate for backdoor device access.

Apple, as part of the Reform Government Surveillance coalition, recently released a statement condemning proposals for backdoors into electronic devices, and in March, Apple engineering chief Craig Federighi said that backdoor access would “inject new and dangerous weaknesses into product security.”

“Weakening security makes no sense when you consider that customers rely on our products to keep their personal information safe, run their businesses or even manage vital infrastructure like power grids and transportation systems,” Federighi said.

Despite the FBI’s error counting the number of encrypted devices it has been unable to access during criminal investigations, the agency maintained that encryption is a “serious problem” in a statement to The Washington Post.

“Going Dark remains a serious problem for the FBI, as well as other federal, state, local and international law enforcement partners. … The FBI will continue pursuing a solution that ensures law enforcement can access evidence of criminal activity with appropriate legal authority.”

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tag: Apple-FBI
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Watch SpaceX attempt to catch a payload fairing with a boat named ‘Mr. Steven’

Less than two weeks have passed since SpaceX’s last rocket launch, but today the company will attempt to break free from the shackles of gravity and reach orbit once again. Barring any delays, SpaceX is set to launch yet another Falcon 9 rocket today at 12:47 PM PST from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

This time, the rocket will carry payloads for two different customers: A set of five communications satellites from Iridium, and two gravity-measuring satellites built in a partnership between NASA and the German Research Centre for Geosciences.

Today’s launch will differ from SpaceX’s previous launches in three key ways. First and foremost, the company isn’t using its new Block 5 Falcon 9 variant. Instead, the payload will be delivered into orbit on an older Block 4 version, which was previously used (and successfully recovered) four months ago during the Zuma mission.

Second, SpaceX will not make any attempt to recover the rocket’s first stage this time around. This deliberate move is part of the company’s ongoing effort to phase out its Block 4 rockets and transition to using the newer, more advanced Block 5 fleet for all future launches. Block 5 rockets (one of which SpaceX used on its last mission) boast a range of upgrades that not only make them more efficient, but also make the Falcon 9’s first stages easier to reuse after recovery.

Don’t worry though — despite the fact that today’s mission won’t include a spectacular rocket landing, the company will attempt to recover a different part of the rocket: half of the payload fairing, otherwise known as the nose cone shell that protects all the expensive stuff SpaceX is trying to put into Space

This is a very tricky endeavor. An array of thrusters and parachutes will help guide the partial fairing down towards Mr. Steven, a landing ship that will attempt to cradle the nose cone and prevent it from tumbling into the ocean. If this recovery proves successful, it will mark a first for the SpaceX team. Previous attempts have just barely failed.

Weather is favorable today, so a launch looks likely. As usual, the SpaceX webcast will kick off 15 minutes before scheduled takeoff.

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As A.I. takes over, Microsoft’s CEO sees the entire world as one big computer

We can now consider the entire world as one big computer from this day forward. That is the message Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella conveyed during a presentation in London, pointing to artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and the rising army of Internet of Things devices that create this global computer. 

“Digital technology, pervasively, is getting embedded in every place: Every thing, every person, every walk of life is being fundamentally shaped by digital technology — it is happening in our homes, our work, our places of entertainment,” Nadella said. “It’s amazing to think of a world as a computer. I think that’s the right metaphor for us as we go forward.” 

For a long time, Microsoft’s motto was that we were living in a mobile-first world. That has since changed with Nadella taking the wheel, as artificial intelligence and cloud computing is emerging in the background of everything we use whether it’s a chatbot, game streaming from the cloud, or managing the local thermostat using a smartphone. We now live in an A.I.-first world. 

That said, Microsoft is changing its strategy by making A.I. the central focal point that binds all of its core products together. A.I. will also be the driving force behind new services on Microsoft’s Azure platform including speech processing, natural language processing, computer vision and more. 

Although A.I. is nowhere close to Skynet proportions, humans are already creating A.I. to write programs that can’t be written by any man or woman. Machines will soon match and even surpass the intellectual abilities of their makers. Even more, all that computational power will be fueled by the cloud, the “edge” devices, and the big data collected and used to shape that global intelligence. 

“You need to be able to take computing to every place where data is going to be generated in large volumes — to an oil rig or a retail shop or a factory,” he said. “All of these are going to have lots and lots of sensors and lots and lots of data which will require computing, and that’s what we are doing. Nine billion microcontrollers that are shipped every year as part of your toasters, your refrigerators, your drills — every piece of equipment you can think of — and we want to cloud-connect them.” 

But having all devices connected to the cloud powered by A.I. can be a frightening thought. We circle back to the fictional Skynet scenario where A.I. becomes self-aware and attempts to eradicate the human race like pesky roaches. In the real world, the big scare is privacy, prejudice, biases, and a reliance on external cloud platforms. For instance, the Nest platform went down for three hours earlier this week, rendering its “smart” locks and alarms in North America, Canada, and the Netherlands utterly “clueless.” 

“Technology developments just don’t happen; they happen because of us as humans making design choices — and those design choices need to be grounded in principles and ethics, and that’s the best way to ensure a future we all want,” Nadella said. 

As A.I. takes over, Microsoft’s CEO sees the entire world as one big computer

We can now consider the entire world as one big computer from this day forward. That is the message Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella conveyed during a presentation in London, pointing to artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and the rising army of Internet of Things devices that create this global computer. 

“Digital technology, pervasively, is getting embedded in every place: Every thing, every person, every walk of life is being fundamentally shaped by digital technology — it is happening in our homes, our work, our places of entertainment,” Nadella said. “It’s amazing to think of a world as a computer. I think that’s the right metaphor for us as we go forward.” 

For a long time, Microsoft’s motto was that we were living in a mobile-first world. That has since changed with Nadella taking the wheel, as artificial intelligence and cloud computing is emerging in the background of everything we use whether it’s a chatbot, game streaming from the cloud, or managing the local thermostat using a smartphone. We now live in an A.I.-first world. 

That said, Microsoft is changing its strategy by making A.I. the central focal point that binds all of its core products together. A.I. will also be the driving force behind new services on Microsoft’s Azure platform including speech processing, natural language processing, computer vision and more. 

Although A.I. is nowhere close to Skynet proportions, humans are already creating A.I. to write programs that can’t be written by any man or woman. Machines will soon match and even surpass the intellectual abilities of their makers. Even more, all that computational power will be fueled by the cloud, the “edge” devices, and the big data collected and used to shape that global intelligence. 

“You need to be able to take computing to every place where data is going to be generated in large volumes — to an oil rig or a retail shop or a factory,” he said. “All of these are going to have lots and lots of sensors and lots and lots of data which will require computing, and that’s what we are doing. Nine billion microcontrollers that are shipped every year as part of your toasters, your refrigerators, your drills — every piece of equipment you can think of — and we want to cloud-connect them.” 

But having all devices connected to the cloud powered by A.I. can be a frightening thought. We circle back to the fictional Skynet scenario where A.I. becomes self-aware and attempts to eradicate the human race like pesky roaches. In the real world, the big scare is privacy, prejudice, biases, and a reliance on external cloud platforms. For instance, the Nest platform went down for three hours earlier this week, rendering its “smart” locks and alarms in North America, Canada, and the Netherlands utterly “clueless.” 

“Technology developments just don’t happen; they happen because of us as humans making design choices — and those design choices need to be grounded in principles and ethics, and that’s the best way to ensure a future we all want,” Nadella said. 

Florida police are using Amazon’s creepy real-time facial-recognition tech

Between its cloud services and retail business, Amazon has plenty of angles when it comes to raking in the cash. But CEO Jeff Bezos’ ecommerce giant has one more unusual money maker up its sleeve: Selling facial recognition technology to the police.

According to documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union, Amazon recently sold access to its real-time “Rekognition” facial recognition tech to the Orlando, Florida police department, which could potentially use it as part of their future crime-solving goals.

“City of Orlando is a launch partner of ours,” Rekognition software director Ranju Das said during a developer conference in Seoul, South Korea. “They have cameras all over the city. The authorized cameras are then streaming the data … we are a subscriber to the stream, we analyze the video in real time, [and] search against the collection of faces they have.”

The Orlando Police Department says that the facial recognition tech is being used only as a “pilot problem” that is being carried out “in accordance with current and applicable law.” It also says that the technology is not currently being utilized “in an investigative capacity or in any public spaces at this time.”

Amazon defended itself against critics by noting that: “Our quality of life would be much worse today if we outlawed new technology because some people could choose to abuse the technology. Imagine if customers couldn’t buy a computer because it was possible to use that computer for illegal purposes?”

Unsurprisingly, not everyone feels quite so warm and fuzzy about Amazon’s plans as, well, Amazon, though. In an open letter sent to Bezos, the ACLU suggested that the technology is, “primed for abuse in the hands of governments.” In particular, the letter noted how it “poses a grave threat to communities, including people of color and immigrants, and to the trust and respect Amazon has worked to build.”

Whether other police departments will follow Orlando’s example remains to be seen. The U.S. isn’t the only country to be using facial recognition in this way, though. In China, the technology is being widely used — most recently to reportedly pick a suspect out of a packed 50,000 person crowd at a concert.

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Florida police are using Amazon’s creepy real-time facial recognition tech

Between its cloud services and retail business, Amazon has plenty of angles when it comes to raking in the cash. But CEO Jeff Bezos’ ecommerce giant has one more unusual money maker up its sleeve: Selling facial recognition technology to the police.

According to documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union, Amazon recently sold access to its real-time “Rekognition” facial recognition tech to the Orlando, Florida police department, which could potentially use it as part of their future crime-solving goals.

“City of Orlando is a launch partner of ours,” Rekognition software director Ranju Das said during a developer conference in Seoul, South Korea. “They have cameras all over the city. The authorized cameras are then streaming the data … we are a subscriber to the stream, we analyze the video in real time, [and] search against the collection of faces they have.”

The Orlando Police Department says that the facial recognition tech is being used only as a “pilot problem” that is being carried out “in accordance with current and applicable law.” It also says that the technology is not currently being utilized “in an investigative capacity or in any public spaces at this time.”

Amazon defended itself against critics by noting that: “Our quality of life would be much worse today if we outlawed new technology because some people could choose to abuse the technology. Imagine if customers couldn’t buy a computer because it was possible to use that computer for illegal purposes?”

Unsurprisingly, not everyone feels quite so warm and fuzzy about Amazon’s plans as, well, Amazon, though. In an open letter sent to Bezos, the ACLU suggested that the technology is, “primed for abuse in the hands of governments.” In particular, the letter noted how it “poses a grave threat to communities, including people of color and immigrants, and to the trust and respect Amazon has worked to build.”

Whether other police departments will follow Orlando’s example remains to be seen. The U.S. isn’t the only country to be using facial recognition in this way, though. In China, the technology is being widely used — most recently to reportedly pick a suspect out of a packed 50,000 person crowd at a concert.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Video of deadly Uber autonomous car crash raises more questions than it answers
• Everything we know about the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S
• Chinese police are using facial-recognition tech to catch criminals
• The 20 best Xbox One games you can play right now
• OnePlus 6 vs. OnePlus 5T vs. OnePlus 5: Is it worth it to upgrade?