The Galaxy S4 is barely a week away from being unveiled, but its rumored eye-tracking abilities find a second home on Samsung's massively popular Galaxy S3, via an Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean update.
It's not clear when the Jelly Bean 4.2.1 update will arrive, but leaked images have shown the eye-tracking technology will be heading to the Galaxy S3 under the names of "Smart Scroll" and "Smart Pause."
Previous reports found that Samsung had trademarked the phrases "Eye Scroll," "Samsung Eye Scroll," and "Eye Pause," but Sammobile is reporting the names have been changed, with accompanying images to boot.
Of course, none of this news is official at this point. The leaked images were believed to be taken from a Galaxy S4, but new (anonymous sources) stated they were actually from a Galaxy S3. The S4 is still expected to support these features, but S3 owners unwilling or unable to switch phones will surely be happy to know they'll receive the same capabilities when Jelly Bean 4.2.1 comes calling.
Smart Scroll will allegedly track an individual's eye movement so that the phone can scroll up and down a page without requiring users to actually touch or swipe the screen. The leaked images show that users can adjust the device's tracking ability, making it scroll faster or slower depending on their preference. People will even be allowed to enable the feature for different areas of use, just in case they want it available for Web browsing but not email.
Smart Pause, meanwhile, will automatically pause a video or stop scrolling through a page as soon as a user's eyes wander away from the screen.
Whether these features become mainstays or annoyances all depends on Samsung's execution, but we probably won't hear more about them until the Galaxy S4 event on March 14. For now at least, Galaxy S3 owners can take heart that Samsung won't be leaving them behind for a new shiny object.
