Is this the new Samsung Galaxy S IV with Smart Pause and floating touch? (video)

We are now just hours away from Samsung Mobile’s Unpacked event in New York City where it is expected that a new Galaxy S IV smartphone will be unveiled, and leaked images and videos claiming to be of the device of the hour are cropping up online.

The official event starts tonight at 7pm EDT (11pm GMT), but Chinese tech website IT168.com has published what it claims are images of the yet-to-be-revealed GT-i9502 smartphone from Samsung.

According to Engadget’s Chinese-language site, the images are of a 1080p 4.99-inch display device with a 1.8GHz eight-core Exynos processor, PowerVR SGX GPU, 2GB RAM, 16GB internal storage and 2,600mAh battery.

As you can see in the images, the design of the smartphone doesn’t stray far from that of the Galaxy S III – something that has already been lightly indicated by an image teaser posted on the Samsung Mobile US Twitter account earlier this week.

^{Image via @SamsungMobileUS on Twitter}

However, the IT168.com device sports what looks like a textured finish on the rear casing that is carried though in the bezel beneath the display.

^{Image via IT168.com}

Other images of the inner workings of the device indicate a dual-SIM model.

^{Image via IT168.com}

IT168.com also has video footage of the supposed Galaxy S IV in action, showing off new features like Smart Pause and a floating touch function. Smart Pause introduces the eye-tracking technology we’re all expecting from the new Samsung device, and in this demo the device knows when the user looks away from the screen and pauses the video he is watching in response.

While not quite the ‘Eye Scroll’ capability rumoured, this update on Samsung’s Smart Stay technology (which keeps the screen lit as long as the user is looking at it) is a likely feature of a new flagship device.

A second video demonstrates ‘floating touch’ capabilities, wherein the user can hover over an image or other content to see a pop-up preview. This is something already enabled using the stylus with the Galaxy Note II so, again, it’s not beyond Samsung’s abilities to develop technology such as this for a new smartphone.