With Samsung set to announce its
Galaxy S IV in around 48 hours, a lot of the talk around the web right now is
about the expected feature which allows the device to track a user’s eye movements.
Samsung’s phones have already taken advantage
of eye-tracking, with the Galaxy S III’s Smart Stay software turning the screen
off when a user looks away from the device. It works well, but the Galaxy S IV
is expected to take things a step further by also scrolling content based on
where a user’s eyes are on the screen. If it works, it may do away with all the
flicking and swiping we do when browsing web pages or eBooks, for example.
That’s all well and good if you’re in
the market for a fancy new Galaxy S IV, but what if you are more of an iPhone
kinda guy? Well, all is not quite lost just yet.
Israeli firm uMoove, founded
back in 2010 has been working on eye-tracking technology for some time now,
though the company refuses to confirm whether their technology is the same one
set to be used by Samsung. What it does mean though, is that the door is open
for any other smartphone maker to follow in Samsung’s footsteps and turn our
eyes into a means of navigating a smartphone’s screen.
In fact, uMoove cofounder Moti
Krispil told the New York Times that
the company aims to have an SDK available for developers within a matter of
months.
Furthermore, Krispil also confirmed
that his company is already in talks with large device manufacturers, so we’ll
leave it to your imagination as to who they may be. Will the iPhone 6 feature
similar technology, perhaps?
As interesting as it sounds, and as
good as it may look on a specification sheet, we can’t help but think that eye-tracking
in this regard is the kind of feature that we would use for thirty minutes and
then turn off. In real world use, how beneficial will this actually be? We
suspect not that much.
However, it’s fair to say that the Galaxy S IV will have more
to say for itself than some fancy eye-tracking, so we’re still mega excited for
what Samsung has in store for us on the 14th. We’re sure you are too!
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