Wow, smart screen kind of scared me today

[matttye]

The camera is on all the time the screen is tracking your eyes! That uses battery life. One review test clocked the feature using over an hours battery life per cycle!

That's not correct - it doesn't track your eyes all the time.

The way Samsung implemented it in the Galaxy S3 (I assume it's the same for the S4) is that every time your screen is about to time out, the camera checks if you're looking at the screen. If you are, it keeps the screen on until the next time it's about to time out again.

That said, while I think it's a pretty cool feature, it probably makes more sense to just disable screen timeout altogether and lock the device manually.

 

[AQUADock]

I have an S3 and I have only seen the icon show up on the status bar about 2 times. I must have an irregular face so i turned it off, hopefully it will get improved in the 4.3 update.

 

[matttye]

Wow, smart screen kind of scared me today

I have an S3 and I have only seen the icon show up on the status bar about 2 times. I must have an irregular face so i turned it off, hopefully it will get improved in the 4.3 update.

The icon only comes up when the screen is about to time out.

If you have the timeout set to 1 minute, the icon will come up after 1 minute of you not touching the screen to see if you're still looking at it, and every 1 minute thereafter.

The icon also means that it is looking for your face; it doesn't signify that you are actually looking at the screen.

 

[onthecouchagain]

Maybe for you personal experience it is, If I had wanted more I would have kept my Android phone. IMO sometimes less is more. I found that the iPhone 5 gave me everything I needed and very little of what I don't.

Well thanks for the valuable contribution to this thread, we will keep that in mind.

Precisely why I say there needs to be an objective conversation too.

If we're only going to go by preferences, then, well, thanks for sharing. My preferences are different than yours. The conversation is over.

EDIT:

Generally speaking, let me add: Subjectively, we lose nothing when a feature that can be turned on/off is added. Objectively, the OS gains.

 

[AQUADock]

The icon only comes up when the screen is about to time out.

If you have the timeout set to 1 minute, the icon will come up after 1 minute of you not touching the screen to see if you're still looking at it, and every 1 minute thereafter.

The icon also means that it is looking for your face; it doesn't signify that you are actually looking at the screen.

Ahh i see thanks for that it works.

 

[Spacial]

Personally I don't as it's a battery hog

You have it backwards. It conserves battery.

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That's not correct - it doesn't track your eyes all the time.

The way Samsung implemented it in the Galaxy S3 (I assume it's the same for the S4) is that every time your screen is about to time out, the camera checks if you're looking at the screen. If you are, it keeps the screen on until the next time it's about to time out again.

That said, while I think it's a pretty cool feature, it probably makes more sense to just disable screen timeout altogether and lock the device manually.

If Apple featured this, the blogosphere would explode with glowing reports of Apple changing the world...again

 

[matttye]

You have it backwards. It conserves battery.

If Apple featured this, the blogosphere would explode with glowing reports of Apple changing the world...again

It doesn't conserve battery. If it wasn't turned on, you'd just have to tap the screen every so often to stop it timing out. Clearly that can't possibly use more battery than the phone using the camera intermittently to keep the screen on.

I doubt it. That usually happens when Apple improves on something, but Samsung's implementation is already pretty perfect.

 

[Dontazemebro]

Android had some cool features. This is one of them.

Yep, quite the feature list for android.


Belkin S4 view case - $24.99

Galaxy S4 under contract - $199.99

Not having to use that 20lb hospital bedside remote - Priceless

 

[onthecouchagain]

I doubt it. That usually happens when Apple improves on something, but Samsung's implementation is already pretty perfect.

I could be wrong but I think he means if Apple introduced a feature like "Smart Stay" first, before Samsung did it, the response would be quite different.

Some might even call it innovation.

 

[matttye]

I could be wrong but I think he means if Apple introduced a feature like "Smart Stay" first, before Samsung did it, the response would be quite different.

Some might even call it innovation.

Oh right. Yeah probably!

Every company has it's' fanatics, Apple just tends to be rife with theirs

 

[onthecouchagain]

Speaking generally, I love new features like this. Even if it has its blind spots, like being unable to use this feature in the dark, it's still cool and a first step to improvements down the line. The whole "it doesn't work in the dark" argument is pretty irrelevant. It'd be like if I said finger print sensor is useless because it won't work if I'm wearing a glove. Both arguments are dumb. In Samsung's case, one would just keep the screen awake in the dark with their fingers normally; in Apple's case, they'd input their pin normally.

That doesn't mean either feature shouldn't exist.

 

[matttye]

Speaking generally, I love new features like this. Even if it has its blind spots, like being unable to use this feature in the dark, it's still cool and a first step to improvements down the line. The whole "it doesn't work in the dark" argument is pretty irrelevant. It'd be like if I said finger print sensor is useless because it won't work if I'm wearing a glove. Both arguments are dumb. In Samsung's case, one would just keep the screen awake in the dark with their fingers normally; in Apple's case, they'd input their pin normally.

That doesn't mean either feature shouldn't exist.

I agree. Some features start with a sloppy, or at least, "unrefined" implementation. These act as a base where improvements can be made.

What I could see happening is some other company using an infra red camera so that it works in the dark too

That is the sort of natural progression I like to see...

This is just an example though. No idea whether it's feasible.

 

[Oohara]

iPhone auto correct error, updated. Meant to say it is one of them.

Ah, I see lol. (And that right there is clearly one of iOS's cool features! j/k, j/k!! )

I agree. Some features start with a sloppy, or at least, "unrefined" implementation. These act as a base where improvements can be made.

What I could see happening is some other company using an infra red camera so that it works in the dark too

That is the sort of natural progression I like to see...

This is just an example though. No idea whether it's feasible.

I actually find that it already works most of the time in the dark Surprisingly often, at least. Because of my face being lit up by the screen I guess.

 

[matttye]

Ah, I see lol. (And that right there is clearly one of iOS's cool features! j/k, j/k!! )




I actually find that it already works most of the time in the dark Surprisingly often, at least. Because of my face being lit up by the screen I guess.

I found it worked in low light but not in a dark room, even with a TV flashing.

 

[onthecouchagain]

I agree. Some features start with a sloppy, or at least, "unrefined" implementation. These act as a base where improvements can be made.

What I could see happening is some other company using an infra red camera so that it works in the dark too

That is the sort of natural progression I like to see...

This is just an example though. No idea whether it's feasible.

Aye. And this is something all companies, including Apple, do all the time. It wasn't until iOS 7 that Siri came out of beta, for example.

 

[matttye]

Aye. And this is something all companies, including Apple, do all the time. It wasn't until iOS 7 that Siri came out of beta, for example.

And still has it's fair share of problems. Siri is mega fast now when it works, but a lot of people, including me, are getting an increased number of errors ATM.

 

[Oohara]

I found it worked in low light but not in a dark room, even with a TV flashing.

Ok I just did a thorough test: Note 2, totally dark room, lying on my back with the phone in normal reading position, e.g. over the lower part of my chest, it works. 20 cm further away or so it stops working. This is with a white background text page on the web and minimum 50% brightness, or 100% brightness with a Flipboard page mostly covered with dark photos.

Anyway, now I'm just being anal and should go to sleep instead. Sorry for semi-derail, carry on please

 

[NT1440]

Does anyone know if this feature pertains to ads in videos? I know that it can pause videos when you aren't looking at them, but in the case of youtube videos that you can't skip the ad (meaning its usually an officially sponsored video) does that mean you have to watch the whole ad because it won't play when you aren't staring at it?

 

[matttye]

Does anyone know if this feature pertains to ads in videos? I know that it can pause videos when you aren't looking at them, but in the case of youtube videos that you can't skip the ad (meaning its usually an officially sponsored video) does that mean you have to watch the whole ad because it won't play when you aren't staring at it?

I highly doubt it's intelligent enough to know when an ad is playing. You could just turn it off, presumably in the notification tray, when an ad is playing.

 

[Eddie Bombay]

Love this feature, didn't think I'd be using this feature but I used it all the time. Still get around 4 hours of screen time which is totally fine with me