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Galaxy S4 to offer eye-tracking Smart Scroll, screenshots suggest

Images obtained by blog site Sammobile provide a look at purported settings for Smart Scroll and Smart Pause features.

Lance Whitney Contributing Writer
Lance Whitney is a freelance technology writer and trainer and a former IT professional. He's written for Time, CNET, PCMag, and several other publications. He's the author of two tech books--one on Windows and another on LinkedIn.
Lance Whitney
2 min read
The next Galaxy S phone could include a Smart Scroll eye-tracking feature.
The next Galaxy S phone could include a Smart Scroll eye-tracking feature. Josh Miller/CNET

Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S4 will offer a Smart Scroll feature, at least according to a series of screenshots leaked by blog site Sammobile.

Images posted on the site show a settings screen for Smart Scroll, a feature that allows users to scroll through the screen and perform certain tasks merely by moving their eyes up and down.

Citing information from a person who has used the yet-to-be-announced phone, the New York Times reported on Monday that Smart Scroll would be built into the S4. The feature would monitor the movement of users' eyes and move the screen accordingly. As one example, "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."

As seen in the screenshots leaked by Sammobile, users can adjust the speed and acceleration of the scrolling based on how their eyes and head move up and down. They can also select which applications can tap into Smart Scroll.

Another feature called Smart Pause can pause a video when people look away from the screen.

In a later update to its story, Sammobile revealed that the images it posted were actually taken from Android 4.2.1 firmware for the Galaxy S3. But the site's inside source told it that the S4 will include the same features seen in the screenshots.

We'll know for sure if the screenshots are legit on March 14. That's when Samsung is expected to unveil the Galaxy S4 at a launch event in New York City.

Watch this: Galaxy S4 could have eye-scrolling tech