Eye scrolling on phones... newest ads revenue generator?

[Anonemous]

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/04/samsungs-new-smartphone-will-track-eyes-to-scroll-pages/

So the rumored new feature on the Galaxy S4 is the eye tracking feature that will automatically scroll the page depending on where you focus... doesn't that mean they can easily adapt eye tracking for ads/pictures? I wonder how they'll collect this info and use it...

 

[Rakehellion]

I guess ads in the future will be pay-per-look instead of pay-per-click. But I'm sure it can be neatly disabled if it causes one distress.

 

[Printer Bandit]

why if you're cross eyed?

 

[gorcorps]

Seems decent upgrades to what they started in the GS3. There were a couple eye detecting features that were good ideas but not that well executed. One would prevent the phone screen from turning off if you were looking at it, and another would recognize your eye orientation vs. the screen and NOT auto-rotate the screen if you laid down with it. I really liked the idea of the 2nd one as I mess with my phone in bed when I lay down a lot. Unfortunately it also needed a decent amount of ambient light to work so it really wasn't useful at the only time I could think it'd actually be useful.

 

[Kreon]

Let me tell you how I think this will go.

It's going to be exactly like the text that when you mouseover, something pops up. It just doesn't behave how you want, and you end up spending all your time on said page trying not to hit the highlighted text.

Its going to be like that. You will spend all your time trying to focus your eyes in exactly the right place, and it will still go wrong.

I hope it works well, and is effective. But if it opens an ad because I "eye-over" it, I'm going to be pissed beyond belief.

I will likely never use it, and if I have a phone that has it will probably immediately turn it off, just like voice search, live backgrounds and other things I can do faster with my fingers.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Let me tell you how I think this will go.

It's going to be exactly like the text that when you mouseover, something pops up. It just doesn't behave how you want, and you end up spending all your time on said page trying not to hit the highlighted text.

Its going to be like that. You will spend all your time trying to focus your eyes in exactly the right place, and it will still go wrong.

I hope it works well, and is effective. But if it opens an ad because I "eye-over" it, I'm going to be pissed beyond belief.

I will likely never use it, and if I have a phone that has it will probably immediately turn it off, just like voice search, live backgrounds and other things I can do faster with my fingers.

I'm fairly sure I can search things on google now about 5x faster than you can with your fingers.

 

[Jinny]

why if you're cross eyed?

hehe

 

[Sheep]

Let me tell you how I think this will go.

My turn: If it works anything like face unlock, it won't work in anything less than optimal lighting (e.g., on a subway platform waiting for a train) and as quickly as users enabled the functionality, they'll disable it because it's too finicky.

I'm sure Samsung has some mad scientist genius working on this but I'm also failing to see how they could possibly account for eye movement to (for example) look at the top of the screen at the clock or read a notification that just arrived.

 

[Bateluer]

Odd . . . the usual battery life whining hasn't started yet.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Odd . . . the usual battery life whining hasn't started yet.

Well Samsung has done a pretty good job in controlling battery life on its devices. I'd like to see a Nexus device have these features AND stellar battery life. Probably not happening though.

 

[Kenazo]

Google is above all an advertising company, so yes, I'm assuming this feature will only have been introduced if they thought it could maximize add revenue in some way. At least with BB you knew you weren't being whored out.

 

[Dari]

I can't wait for Apple, Google or someone else to implement it so that it "just works". It's good that Samsung is actually interested in providing services instead of just hardware but they have ways to go before being in the same league as Apple.

 

[cliftonite]

Well Samsung has done a pretty good job in controlling battery life on its devices. I'd like to see a Nexus device have these features AND stellar battery life. Probably not happening though.

Other than battery life why should a device that costs $299 have the same features as one that will cost $699?

 

[Anonemous]

hmmm have they implemented this technology for quadriplegic patients? Wouldn't this help them to be able to control things with their eye movements?

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Other than battery life why should a device that costs $299 have the same features as one that will cost $699?

Is this where you make excuses that a device that's specced at the high end can have major derps because it's priced at $299? Do you really think the fact that Google doesn't properly calibrate their screens, optimize battery life, etc. is a result from a $299 phone? Let's look at battery benchmarks for the Galaxy Nexus, Nexus S, and Nexus One and then talk because then we can remove the $699 inflated price you made up.

 

[Skurge]

Smart stay works pretty well. I haven't used the rotating thing yet. I find it hard to see how this can work well. How far and how fast will it scroll? Will the be a delay before it scrolls when you reach the bottom or will it scroll up immediately.

I hope the is a way to adjust settings instead of there just being an on/off toggle for it.

 

[gorcorps]

Other than battery life why should a device that costs $299 have the same features as one that will cost $699?

A microSD slot is worth the price difference to me.

 

[shortylickens]

why if you're cross eyed?

Then I should think smartphones have been kicking your ass for a while now, no?

 

[cliftonite]

Is this where you make excuses that a device that's specced at the high end can have major derps because it's priced at $299? Do you really think the fact that Google doesn't properly calibrate their screens, optimize battery life, etc. is a result from a $299 phone? Let's look at battery benchmarks for the Galaxy Nexus, Nexus S, and Nexus One and then talk because then we can remove the $699 inflated price you made up.

Im not talking about QC issues. I am talking about features. Why do you expect a phone that is $299 to have the same features as one that will be at least 2x the price (do you think you will be able to get the GS4 for less than $699 after launch without a contract)?

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Im not talking about QC issues. I am talking about features. Why do you expect a phone that is $299 to have the same features as one that will be at least 2x the price (do you think you will be able to get the GS4 for less than $699 after launch without a contract)?

They're typically priced at $599. Even iPhone 5 isn't priced at $699 unlocked. If you're talking about high prices because they're import phones and because worldwide stock is limited, then yes, I can see the GS4 starting at like $900 for the international version. It's just like the iPhone hits $900 or whatever absurd amount at first. However, while these phones will come down to the $500 range, the iPhone will hover around $700 still.

Anyway, I'm not saying Google needs to implement eye scrolling or any of Samsung's nifty features. I actually am not that impressed with the thing like Smart Stay and stuff because it is a battery waster. However I'm saying that Samsung does a good job and optimizes their phones such that even with all these stupid features like S-Voice and crap running in the background, the phone manages to have great battery life.

If we were to have an open source version of this run on a Nexus, it would cripple the already shoddy battery life. Just because it's a $299 phone doesn't mean it can perform poorly. The performance needs to match the specs, and the battery life just isn't there. With custom kernels, you can significantly turn things around. Perhaps what I'd like to see is Anand release an open source battery benchmark program. I'd like to see how my tweaked Nexus 4 is compared to Anand benchmarks.

 

[Mopetar]

My turn: If it works anything like face unlock, it won't work in anything less than optimal lighting (e.g., on a subway platform waiting for a train) and as quickly as users enabled the functionality, they'll disable it because it's too finicky.

I'm sure Samsung has some mad scientist genius working on this but I'm also failing to see how they could possibly account for eye movement to (for example) look at the top of the screen at the clock or read a notification that just arrived.

A good algorithm could probably stop a lot of accidental or unintentional scrolls. For example if your reading something, it's pretty easy to tell since your eyes will be bouncing back and forth across the lines. Similarly, the system will know when there's a notification, so it can ignore any gazes at the top of the screen for a few seconds. If it knows where the clock is at, it can ignore quick glances at it as well.

It's just a matter of having a good enough camera and enough light. Since the screen emits light, it might be possible to track eye movement in the dark without other light sources. Even the craptastic front camera on my iPad has enough granularity to pick out eye movements and given that eyes are pretty easy to pick out compared to the rear of the face, it shouldn't be a problem on most hardware.

There are some kinks that likely need to be worked out, and the thing might be a battery hog without some dedicated hardware, but I think it could be done, and done fairly well at that. I think it's more of a novelty than a necessary feature, but it has some interesting applications.

 

[Red Storm]

I look forward to the day where I can control my phone with my eyes. No buttons ftw!

 

[Mushkins]

Automatic eye tracking will crash and burn for one glaring reason: people who dont understand it and freak out that their phone is doing things automatically.

The vast majority of smartphone users are not tech savvy. They do not read the inserts, or the instructions, or care beyond turning it on and it "just working." When they look at the bottom of a website or a document and suddenly their phone starts scrolling on its own, they don't go "wow, neat, it recognizes eye movement," they go "OMG I HAEV A VIRUS!!!!" They are scared and confused because its doing things on its own that they dont immediately understand. That makes them frustrated. That makes them return the device and talk smack about it to their friends. That makes for bad sales numbers.

People are already struggling with gesture-based controls with their hands. They either dont know how to use them, or get frustrated when they accidentally perform them and their phone does something they don't want it to. Imagine trying to do the same thing with their eyes, something they don't even consciously think about controlling? When it comes to usability many times less is more.

 

[Red Storm]

Automatic eye tracking will crash and burn for one glaring reason: people who dont understand it and freak out that their phone is doing things automatically.

The vast majority of smartphone users are not tech savvy. They do not read the inserts, or the instructions, or care beyond turning it on and it "just working." When they look at the bottom of a website or a document and suddenly their phone starts scrolling on its own, they don't go "wow, neat, it recognizes eye movement," they go "OMG I HAEV A VIRUS!!!!" They are scared and confused because its doing things on its own that they dont immediately understand. That makes them frustrated. That makes them return the device and talk smack about it to their friends. That makes for bad sales numbers.

People are already struggling with gesture-based controls with their hands. They either dont know how to use them, or get frustrated when they accidentally perform them and their phone does something they don't want it to. Imagine trying to do the same thing with their eyes, something they don't even consciously think about controlling? When it comes to usability many times less is more.

When you first use the phone there are all these full screen alerts showing off everything it can do. As a tech literate person these are very annoying, but for average people it works fine.

 

[Mushkins]

When you first use the phone there are all these full screen alerts showing off everything it can do. As a tech literate person these are very annoying, but for average people it works fine.

For every person who's willing to read through those tutorials, there's another dozen that just click through because they want to use their phone RIGHT NAO!!!

It only takes a minority of users to ignore those warnings and tutorials to make a gigantic stink about it all over the internet.