LG: Oi! Samsung's not the only one with eyeball-tracking smartphones
Little Brother is watching you
LG announced that its Optimus G Pro smartphone will pause video playback when it detects that its owner has stopped looking at it - just hours before Samsung unveiled the same feature for the Galaxy S4.
Eyeball tracking, using the mobile's built-in camera to scroll pages and notice when the user is no longer staring, is set to be the next big thing. Navigating screenfuls of information with a glance is a nice idea but may prove complicated in practice, which is why both South Korean manufacturers are starting with the relatively simple pause-video-when-you're-not-looking function.
Samsung is playing it safe with the Galaxy S4, allowing playback to be paused when it detects that the user has looked away but requiring a tap on the screen to resume. LG promises that its Optimus G Pro "recognises the position of the viewer’s eyes and automatically plays or stops the video without any manual input from the user".
The Pro isn't expected to hit the UK until the summer, but when it comes it will have a dual-camera feature which takes photographs with both cameras at the same time, putting one picture as a thumbnail in the corner of the other - "Users can now be a part of the story" as the company puts it, explaining that the capability extends to video, too.
The timing of the LG announcement last night is clearly designed to remind everyone that the Optimus G Pro, which was announced at Mobile World Congress 2013, is positioned as a competitor to Samsung's Galaxy S4 just in case we're overwhelmed by Sammy's publicity machine.
LG and Samsung have long been competitors; both are chaebols (family-controlled corporations) with close ties to the South Korean government, they compete in the same industries and have headquarters right across the road from each other. Samsung is the larger company but LG is constantly telling the world that anything its rival can do, it can do better. ®
COMMENTS
Re: Things I'd like to see in a future iteration of a 'smart' phone.
""Yes, I control my TV with my phone" - signed: Absolutely Nobody"
Sorry, I control my TV and sky box with my phone. It's not a decicated device, but I can and occasionally do.
Next up?
Windows phones takes themselves back to Redmond when they notice nobody looks at them in the shop?
Android phones spying on everyone in the shop and posting it on YouTube?
Loads of not-so-good possibilities here - I prefer my kit not to be too bright..
Re: Next up?
> Windows phones takes themselves back to Redmond when they notice nobody looks at them in the shop?
How about just showing the classical Windows Blue Screen of Death.
That'd surely get a few confused glances from the casual passer by.
I cant think of anything worse,
This is an example of Tech for Tech's sake.
if I happen to look up because someone says : wanna cup of tea, I don't want to look down to see its paused.
or scrolled to the end of a doc, because the dog licked my foot and I temporarily glanced tot he side.
if I ever have this, I think it will be turned off pretty much immediately.
not even mentioning that its starting to get a bit big brother,
because you just know google will follow up with,
'watch what adds your looking at' tech, and then it all starts getting a little creepy.
LG announced it first, the one first to market would be the S4
