Samsung hypes Galaxy S IV launch with teaser pic, flash mob video

By Andrea Chang

March 13, 2013 12 AM PT

The Galaxy S IV is set to debut Thursday at a launch event in New York, and Samsung has been building buzz for the new smartphone all week with more teasers.

“The countdown for #TheNextBigThing has begun. Who’s ready for the Global Unpacked Event on March 14?” read a tweet from the Samsung Mobile U.S. Twitter account, along with a photo of the new smartphone semi-cloaked in darkness.

From the looks of it, the new phone appears to be a lot like its predecessor, the S III, although maybe slightly bigger.

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The South Korean electronics giant also released a 73-second video of a small flash mob in New York promoting the S IV with a dance routine.

The dancers -- dressed in black suits, bow ties and striped vests -- entertained a crowd in Times Square, emerging from and disappearing back into a “Be Ready 4 the Next Galaxy” breakaway box. To drive the point home, they had white “4”s painted on their backs.

The Android-based Galaxy S IV reportedly will have a feature that will scroll text based on a user’s eye movements. The feature, expected to be called “Eye Scroll,” follows a user’s eye movements to determine when to scroll. For example, when the user’s eyes get to the bottom of a page, the phone will scroll an article up to reveal more paragraphs.

On the hardware side, the smartphone is expected to have a nearly 5-inch screen with full 1080p HD resolution.

Thursday’s event begins at 4 p.m. PDT and can be watched live on YouTube.