Samsung's next big trick: a phone that 'automatically scrolls as you read'
The new Samsung smartphone, the Galaxy S4, to be introduced this month, is reportedly to have one big feature that will have everyone talking: eye scrolling.
Galaxy S4: The next big thing?
When users read articles and their eyes reach the bottom of the page, the software will automatically scroll down to reveal the next paragraphs of text.
The phone will track a user’s eyes to determine where to scroll, the New York Times said, quoting a Samsung employee who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the news media.
The source would not explain what technology was being used to track eye movements, nor did he say whether the feature would be demonstrated at the Galaxy S IV press conference, which will be held in New York on March 14.
The Samsung employee said that over all, the software features of the new phone outweighed the importance of the hardware.
In January, the NYT pointed out, Samsung filed for a trademark in Europe for the name “Eye Scroll” (No. 011510674). It next filed for the “Samsung Eye Scroll” trademark in the United States in February.
Samsung described the service then as “Computer application software having a feature of sensing eye movements and scrolling displays of mobile devices, namely, mobile phones, smartphones and tablet computers according to eye movements; digital cameras; mobile telephones; smartphones; tablet computers.”
Samsung has also filed for the trademark “Eye Pause,” without describing what the feature does.
Kevin Packingham, Samsung’s chief product officer, in an interview with the NYT, "declined to share details " about Samsung’s next phone.
But he said he disagreed that the new hardware would be insignificant compared with the software, and overall, “It’s an amazing phone.”
The Galaxy S III, already has a feature that watches you. The feature, Smart Stay, uses its front-facing camera to know to keep the screen lit up when a person is looking at it instead of dimming it automatically.
Samsung’s Galaxy S III has been the company’s best-selling phone, so the release of its next flagship phone has been highly anticipated, said the NYT.