Here is the latest update that I recieved in an email from BioWalllet:
It’s probably been too long since last time you heard about BioWallet. We are sorry for the lack of information and we are determined to keep you updated much more frequently about the project status starting as of today.
We know many of you have been eagerly waiting to see BioWallet in the Android Market, but we are still facing some serious development issues that are making the BioWallet release quite difficult. Iris recognition with a mobile device is a complex task and the Android platform is not making things easier because it is not well suited for this kind of application. Right now, our main handicaps are (without getting too technical):
Dalvik (Android Virtual Machine) imposes a memory limit for applications that is too low (16 MB) for many of the image processing operations we have to perform in order to recognize an iris.
Dalvik is an interpreted virtual machine and that causes a poor performance for CPU-intensive operations like iris recognition.
The only Android phone in the market so far (HTC Dream / T-Mobile G1) doesn’t have an outstanding camera. The resolution is enough (3.1 Mpx) but the auto-focus feature doesn’t work well with short distances, it lacks a macro mode and the picture quality with low lighting is quite poor.
We are working hard to solve these problems, but BioWallet is not our main job and we can only develop it in our “free” time (nights, weekends, holidays…). In addition, we have to balance it with other personal and professional projects, so please bear with us.
These days we are trying to get some funding from the Spanish bank BBVA to keep the development active. You can help us just clicking the button "Votar" (Vote) in the BBVA OpenTalent section in our web page or the OpenTalent site (Spanish).
Last but not least, we really want to thank you for your support. Seriously, that means a lot for us and gives us a reason to push ourselves hard and get BioWallet ready soon.
Cheers,
BioWallet Team
Biometric security software for Android