While the iPhone has always shunned the idea of a notification LED to let people know that there’s an SMS, WhatsApp Message or email waiting for them, Android phones have embraced this over the years. You’d be hard pushed to find an Android device that didn’t have some sort of notification LED and many of these are RGB LEDs that can be customized using special apps, assigning certain colors to certain apps. For a little while now, we’ve been hearing of a new effort from Samsung to change the notification LED, dubbed Smart Glow, it’s all but confirmed to be launching in the 2016 model of the budget-minded Galaxy J2 a little later this year. Now, leaked renders of the Galaxy J2 (2016) give us a closer look at what the hardware might look like.
We’ve seen the Smart Glow system leak out a number of times before, and it seems as though Samsung is not only finding a way to make use of the space surrounding the now-inevitable camera hump, but also update how we see notifications. The Smart Glow system is said to be a gentle, yet noticeable glow that has a wide variety of different colors for different messages and notifications, but there’s also a rumored companion app to go with it. This companion app is rumored to offer users a way of controlling what the Smart Glow LED updates users with, including the weather, softer flash for selfies and an update on the user’s battery level. Why this new technology is launching in the Galaxy J2 (2016) is unclear, but it’s more than likely that Samsung will be looking to test the waters with this change, rather than jumping in with something like the Galaxy S or the Galaxy Note line of devices.
There is however, a chance that if this is well-received the feature will move over to the better-known lines from Samsung. Right now however, there are more pictures of the Galaxy J2 (2016) to take a look at and it seems as if we’ll be waiting a little while longer to see just what Smart Glow looks in action.
