Report: Samsung Galaxy IV to Have Eye-tracking Functionality

Here’s some new tidbit of information, apparently Samsung’s new Galaxy S IV will have eye-tracking technology that enables users to scroll through webpages without touching the screen, at least according to The New York Times.

How would it work?  Well, new paragraphs will automatically come into view when your eyes hit the end of a paragraph. A Samsung employee reportedly provided The New York Times with this information, though the source didn’t disclose the technology being used to power the functionality.  Right now, it’s also unknown whether Samsung plans to demonstrate the eye-tracking feature at its March 14th press event.

Additionally, it appears that Samsung filed for a trademark in Europe for the name “Eye Scroll” (mark no. 011510674) in January and it also filed for the “Samsung Eye Scroll” trademark in the United States in February, where it described the service 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.

This could bring a whole new user experience to smartphones.  If this is a real feature that’s coming to the Galaxy S IV, it’s a really good idea.  Let’s just hope it works as good as it sounds.