In today’s mobile news roundup: Samsung’s Galaxy SIV may have an eye scrolling feature; iPhone 5S coming in mid-2013; White House backs phone unlocking petition; Twitter to discontinue Android, iOS, and Air-based TweetDeck; Netflix not making BB10 app; Amazon’s Mobile Ads API; and Sprint to offer shared data plans for SMEs.

Samsung Galaxy SIV may have eye scrolling feature

The Samsung Unpacked 2013 event is set to go live on March 14 in New York.  It’s not hard to guess what the event will be about, because of the huge number 4 plastered throughout the teaser.  Now, the internet is teeming with suspected features of Samsung’s next big thing.

According to The New York Times, one of the Galaxy SIV’s prominent features is eye scrolling wherein the device will track the movement of the user’s eyes to know which way to scroll.  What this means is no more fingers getting in the way of the screen, scrolling too far or too short, and less smudges on the screen.

Samsung has previously filed for the trademarks “Eye Scroll” and “Samsung Eye Scroll” in Europe and UK, described as “computer application software having a feature of sensing eye movements and scrolling displays of mobile devices, namely, mobile phones, smartphones and tablet computers according to eye movements; digital cameras; mobile telephones; smartphones; tablet computers.”

Samsung also filed for “Eye Pause,” but the description was not given.

Aside from that, the SIV is expected to have a more rectangular design, a Super AMOLED HD display, 2GB of RAM, 13MP rear camera, storage options of 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB, and will run Android 4.2 a.k.a Jelly Bean.

iPhone 5S coming in mid-2013

Reports have surfaced that the iPhone 5S, the revamped version of the latest iPhone, will be coming in mid-2013 and will tout better features than the previous model.

Reports suggest that the 5S will have a better camera, more powerful processor and fingerprint scanning, but will generally still look like the original iPhone 5 except that it will come in various colored cases.

It was also stated that come April, Apple will be releasing a new version of the iPad and the iPad mini 2, which will probably have Retina Display.

But KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo stated in his latest report that Apple will unveil the iPhone 5S, a cheaper iPhone and iOS 7 in June, and the devices will be available for purchase by July.  It was also stated that the fingerprint chip will be under the Home button for added security, and will have Smart Flash to ensure high quality photos each time.

In other Apple news, the fruity company has been issued a patent for “Sensing capacitance changes of a housing of an electronic device,” which describes how a device’s housing or casing is pressure sensitive and be used as an input method.  Pressure sensitive casings can eliminate the need for physical buttons, thus improving the aesthetics of a device.

White House backs phone unlocking petition

The White House has backed the petition to legalize phone unlocking, and added that the same privilege should be imposed on tablets.

“The White House agrees with the 114,000+ of you who believe that consumers should be able to unlock their cell phones without risking criminal or other penalties.
“And if you have paid for your mobile device, and aren’t bound by a service agreement or other obligation, you should be able to use it on another network,” wrote R. David Edelman, White House senior adviser for Internet, innovation, and privacy. “It’s common sense, crucial for protecting consumer choice, and important for ensuring we continue to have the vibrant, competitive wireless market that delivers innovative products and solid service to meet consumers’ needs.”

The Library of Congress ruled last year that the Digital Millenium Copyright Act makes phone unlocking illegal, and was put into action in January of this year.  A petition against the phone unlocking ban was quickly put into action, and even the Federal Communications Commission sided with consumers.

Twitter to discontinue Android, iOS, and Air-based TweetDeck

Twitter announced that it will be discontinuing the TweetDeck application for Android, iOS and Air-based desktops as it focuses more on its web client.

The apps will no longer be available in May and soon after, the apps installed will no longer work.

TweetDeck stated that in order to “offer a great product that addresses your unique needs, we’re going to focus our development efforts on our modern, web-based versions of TweetDeck.”

Netflix not making BB10 app
Following Yahoo’s announcement that it will be killing off its app for BlackBerry devices, Netflix stated that the company has no plans of making an app, native or port, for BlackBerry 10 devices.

No reasons were given as to why Netflix chose to ignore the platform, but BlackBerry is hoping that the company will change its decision.

“We’re committed to bringing top titles from around the globe to BlackBerry 10 customers,” BlackBerry spokesman Alex Kinsella told AllThingsD. “At this time, it’s in Netflix’s court to join the excitement around BlackBerry 10 — we hope they choose to bring a BlackBerry 10 experience to their customers. We’d love to have them.”

Amazon’s Mobile Ads API

Amazon has announced its Mobile Ads API which will allow developers to offer display ads inside apps.  The new Ads API can be used on apps distributed on any Android device, but this is only available for apps distributed in the US only.  International apps are currently not accommodated.

Sprint to offer shared data plans for SMBs

Not to be left out, Sprint has announced that beginning today, it will start offering shared data plans for small business customers until June 13.  This move is in response to Verizon and T-Mobile’s previous announcement regarding shared data for business customers.  This new business focused strategy will not affect Sprint’s current unlimited offerings.

“Sprint remains committed to offering smartphone customers Truly Unlimited data with no throttling, no metering and no overages, all while on the Sprint network,” Sprint spokeswoman Kristin Wallace said. “The new Business Advantage Data Share plans will give small business customers additional choices.”

For a complete roundup of today’s tech news, see the below segment from this morning’s NewsDesk show with Kristin Feledy:

photo credit: Cayusa via photopin cc