Handset manufacturers have a variety of methods at their disposal to promote brands and excite consumers when it comes time for a product launch. Ideas can range from raffle drawings to endurance contests.
Right now, one of the most gripping advertisement campaigns is a staring contest.
The contest, put on by Samsung and European telecom company, Swisscom, hosted an "All eyes on the S4" event at a train station in Zurich, Switzerland,
The rules: contestants must stare at a Galaxy S4 screen for an hour without looking away. It's a simple premise, but it's made all the more complicated when Samsung deploys Wile E. Coyote-esque distractions.
For example, some contestants were tempted by an eccentric hot dog vendor whose arm would later catch on fire. The marketing agency behind the promotion also deployed dirt bikes, arguing couples, obnoxious street performers and snarling German Shepard police dogs to distract contestants.
In the end, there could only be one winner. That winner was a young man, who took home a free Galaxy S4 after balloons and confetti dropped down from the station's rafters.
The Galaxy S4 touts enhanced eye-tracking software, building off of the Galaxy S3's Smart Stay feature. Smart Scroll which can detect when a user looks away from the screen. Samsung claims its eye-tracking software will allow users to scroll through text and pause video without tapping the screen. The feature will also keep the phone's display from timing out and going dim when a user's eyes focus on the phone.
So far, the Galaxy S4's eye-tracking offerings have had mixed reviews, thought the phone itself is well reviewed.
"Eye-tracking software sounds like a cool, futuristic power for controlling your phone with your peepers, but that's really only partway true," Jessica Dolcourt said in a Galaxy S4 review for CNET. "It isn't so much that the cursor or text follows the movement of your eyes, which you probably wouldn't want anyhow, if you think about it. More generally, the software knows when you're paying attention and when you avert your gaze."
More useful, Dolcourt notes, is the Galaxy S4's Air View feature, which lets users preview content like photos, videos and even email.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 is currently available on Verizon and AT&T networks for $199.
