Samsung is reimagining the notification LED with Smart Glow

Notification LEDs have been a staple of many Android devices for years, but Samsung thinks it can improve on the concept with a feature called Smart Glow.

Smart Glow is basically a multi-color LED ring going around the camera of a phone. Discovered by GalaxyClub.nl in a leaked user manual, Smart Glow will probably soon make an appearance on devices, with the budget Galaxy J2 (2016) as a likely first candidate.

Users will be able to customize Smart Glow by assigning specific colors to certain contacts or applications, so they are aware of new notifications even when the phone is lying face down. The light ring will also light up when the battery is low and it will work as a guide when taking selfies with the rear camera by turning blue when the user’s face is in the field of view.

Smart Glow is basically a fancy LED, but it will still be interesting to see what Samsung does with it. Most phones look the same these days, as even cheap devices adopt metallic unibodies and fingerprint scanners. As hardware design becomes more uniform, differentiation will probably come from offbeat, slightly gimmicky features like Smart Glow.

What do you think of the concept?