The Tribune

SAMSUNG’S new Galaxy Note 7 phone can be unlocked by just looking at it.

It will come with an iris sca nner, which matches patterns in your eyes with what was detected by your phone during setup. It offers an alternative to fingerprint ID, which doesn’t work well when fingers are wet. Of course, the four-digit passcode will still work.

“We challenged our engineers to design a security system that’s convenient and safe at the same time,” said Justin Denison, a senior vice president for product strategy at Samsung. “It took five years to perfect, but it only takes a glance to unlock your phone.” Microsoft’s Lumia 950 phones were first to have iris scanners.

The updates otherwise in the Note 7 are mostly enhancements, such as a stronger glass screen and double the amount of storage - 64 gigabytes, plus a slot to add more.

The Note 7 comes with the enhanced camera the smaller Galaxy S7 phones got in March apart from interface enhancements to access settings and switch between the front and rear cameras more easily.

The new phone comes weeks before Apple is expected to announce new models. This time, Samsung has just one large model, which stays at 5.7 inches. It will have curved edges - a well-liked feature limited to a special “Edge” model before. The Note 7 will be available in the US from August 19.

The Note 7 comes with a stylus, which expands on a feature that lets you magnify text and images by hovering the pen over it. With the pen, people will have ways to easily create and share GIF animations.

The Note 7 also expands on a feature to give sensitive files an additional layer of security. You’ll be asked for an iris scan, fingerprint or passcode to access documents you place in a Secure Folder. This way, if you’re handing the phone to friends to browse pictures, you are not inadvertently giving them access to confidential work documents.

ANICK JESDANUN

Associated Press