ISeeYou

Summary

One of the best features on the Galaxy S3 is the front camera which automatically recognises when you're looking at the display and as a result the display remains on. The app ISeeYou will bring this very useful to every device that has a front camera AND Android 4.0. What did we make for it? Find out below.

Test device: Samsung Galaxy Nexus
Android Version: 4.0.4
Root: Yes
Modifications: Yes / AOKP ROM Build 39 / Popcorn Kernel 11

App details:
Runs as of: Android 4.0
Apps2SD: Couldn't be detected
Size after installation: Ca. 0.06 MB
Optimised for Ice Cream Sandwich: Will only run on Android 4.0
Tablet optimised: No, but runs well

Permissions: ISeeYou requires only essential permissions

I love Android. Wait, stop, don't go, and don't worry: this isn't going to turn into a tedious rant about why and how Android is better than iOS and co. But let me just say that the openness and ingenuity of Android is what makes it so great. ISeeYou is a great example of this.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 was one of the most anticipated releases of the last few years, nay of all time. It's sold millions of times and the hype is booming. It comes with a lot of nice gimmicks and features, which may explain the ballyhoo surrounding it. One of said features is that the front camera will register your face and prevent the display from timing out, which is meant to help preserve battery life. It also makes for a more comfortable usage of the device, seeing at the display won't go dark if you're reading something, for instance.

If this sounds like a feature you'd like on your device (which must be running Android 4.0), ISeeYou is just the ticket for you. I found the app to do a decent job, contingent mainly on the lighting and by how your device's camera deals with lighting conditions. ISeeYou doesn't perform well in the dark, but does a fairly good job in dim light on the Galaxy Nexus. Backlight didn't prove to be a problem, either.

Bottom line:

ISeeYou performs well and is rather useful to have on board. If you enjoy this type of gimmick and want a touch of S3 on your device, go ahead and check it out.

Well, there's not much to say here. ISeeYou comes with three buttons: start, stop and an option to reboot. In other words: just the bare necessities.

The biggest concern with this app was: will it burn a lot of battery power in order to run? What I found is that this really comes down to user behavious. ISeeYou will take pictures regularly, but not incessantly. That said, the display time-out can be regulated, and this will help save battery life.

I didn't experience any difficulties, save for one instance when the app had to restart after it hadn't been able to register my eye.

The lite version of ISeeYou is free and can be found in Google Play. The pro version costs EUR 0.60 and allows users to determine the scan interval. A very fair price.