Leaked Samsung Specifications Show New “Smart Glow” Notifications

Leaked reports – including specifications and images, leaked to Dutch tech website Galaxy Club – suggest that Samsung is working on a new visual notification system for its phones.

The new feature, called “Smart Glow,” will consist of a small ring around a phone’s rear-facing camera. The ring will light up in various colors to notify users of calls and texts, according to leaked specifications.

The Smart Glow ring is rumored to also notify users when their phone’s battery is getting low, or when the battery is fully charged, Engadget said. While its primary focus is to provide visual notifications on the back of devices, it may also serve other purposes.

Reportedly, phones with the “Smart Glow” feature will have a selfie assist mode. The luminous ring would light up when the phone detects a human face, and would then snap a photo automatically.

Some have also speculated that Smart Glow will feature various notification colors that could be customized to light up for Android- or Samsung-based app notifications.

These early rumors suggest that the Smart Glow feature will be added onto the India-bound Galaxy J2. The company has yet to mention the feature publicly, so it’s anyone’s guess whether it will be included to future Galaxy flagship phones.

External LED notifications are becoming a popular feature for phone manufacturers to add onto their smart phones. Even Apple added a similar feature to their phones in iOS 9, utilizing the iPhone’s rear-camera flash. However, Samsung’s Smart Glow seems like a fresh and innovative way of expanding on traditional external LED notifications.