Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Refines the Stylus, Reads Your Iris

 

In an era of big smartphones, Samsung’s phablet still stands out for what it can do with a stylus—and your eyes

Samsung debuted its 5.7-inch Galaxy Note 7 on Tuesday and I had a chance to spend a little time with it before it hits stores on Aug. 19.

Samsung’s Note originated the idea of a phablet back in a time when big phones seemed strange. The new one still has a trusty stylus and doesn’t contain radical reinventions like a missing headphone jack or modular parts. But Samsung has found a few ways to refine the idea of squishing a phone and computer into a single pocket-sized device. It’s probably everything a road warrior could think to ask for, except for a two-day battery we may never get.

The most novel addition to the Note 7 is an iris reader, which lets you unlock your phone—and the contents of a secret folder—with your eyes. A new infrared camera on the front reads the patterns in your iris when you hold it up to your face. In my test, the setup process was challenged by reflections from my glasses, but eventually I got it running.

 

You can unlock the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 with your retina, using its new infrared scanner. Photo: Nathan Olivarez-Giles/The Wall Street Journal

Is that actually useful? For highly sensitive files or work documents, retinas are theoretically harder to spoof than fingerprints. And it is, perhaps, easier to use your eyes when your hands are otherwise busy, or wet. (I could imagine it being handy on a StairMaster.)