I was talking to a not so techie colleague who has used both iOS and Android

[G+_Scott Knight]

I was talking to a not so techie colleague who has used both iOS and Android. He had an interesting observation, when he puts in his passcode on iOS, it automatically unlocks and takes him to the home screen. But on android, he needs an extra step, to tap the Enter key before it unlocks. Any idea why Google doesn't adopt this user friendly feature? Is it patents?

[G+_Joseph Cappellino]

It's because you can set a PIN that's longer than 4 characters on Android. CyanogenMod does have a setting to do just this, though.

[G+_Elias Mårtenson]

On Android you usually use the unlock pattern though, which is easier to use.

 

To answer the question, I believe it's because your unlock code is not necessarily 4 digits.

[G+_Sidharth Dassani]

Joseph Cappellino that should not matter. The system should unlock as soon as it knows that the correct password has been entered

[G+_Sidharth Dassani]

Tell your friend to use face unlock :-)

[G+_Joseph Cappellino]

Sidharth Dassani - it's actually a little more secure if you have to hit enter. Someone could just get lucky and it would automatically unlock.

[G+_Gene Chiu]

If the PIN can be of variable length, you need to tell the security that you have finished entering it in. It is like entering your password on a PC. It can be any length, so you need to press enter.

 

I personally use a pattern lock on my phone. I find it to be much easier and faster than any other way I have tried on my devices. I have used face unlock and PINs. I prefer the pattern lock.