device for fingerprint scanner in android?

Question

iam running a project that part of it requires to read a fingerprint. The platform we use is an Android phone (2.2).

Is there a fingerprint reader availble for this platform? (micro USB, power supply issues, drivers etc.)

Answer 1

There's a company called InnovateScan which sells a device called BlueFin. It connects by Bluetooth rather than USB. It's not cheap and it's not light. But Google doesn't seem to throw up anything else. Check it out.

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Note: I have no personal experience of this company or its products. No endorsement is implied or intended.

Answer 2

Most android phones do not support USB host mode or have the drivers for usb devices without 'unofficial' kernel modifications. Nor can they supply power to a USB device.

But if you are up for a lot of hard work, kernel patching and reflashing, and set up ADB over wifi or something else since you will loose the existing USB (device) capability, you could probably get this working as a demonstration project.

As a product, you'd at a minimum need a vendor willing to sell you reflashable phones, and more likely you would want to replace the phone case with a larger one including the reader and necessary circuitry to tap power for it out somehow.