We're not exactly sure why anyone would be interested in a smartphone with a built-in projector but that's exactly what Samsung has created.
The Samsung Galaxy Beam is a run of the mill Android phone that boasts a built-in HD projector as its key feature, but with a brightness of just 15 lumens, we can't see this feature being used for any serious entertainment or business.
On first glance the Samsung Galaxy Beam appears to look like just another Android phone.
Look on top though and you'll find a projector lens that allows the phone to beam content onto surfaces up to 1.30m wide.
The projector itself has a resolution of 640x360 but a brightness of just 15 lumens.
Samsung says the Galaxy Beam will come with a "projector-dedicated application" that will enable projection of specific content, so the phone won't simply just project whatever is on the screen.
Photos, videos, games, maps and "business information" has been identified by Samsung as the multimedia content that can be beamed from the phone.
The company says the 2000mAh battery powering the Galaxy Beam will enable up to three hours of projection time.
Samsung deserves a lot of credit for its implementation of the projector on the Galaxy Beam.
The phone is just 12.5mm thick and the company is therefore calling it the world's thinnest projector phone.
Though 12.5mm is thicker than many other smartphones on the market, the Galaxy Beam is certainly not as bulky as we imagined a projector phone to be. Further, the phone manages to look as inconspicuous as possible. Aside from the slight bump on the back, you'd be hard pressed to immediately notice the Galaxy Beam has a built-in projector.
Once you get past the projector feature, however, the Galaxy Beam's specifications are not overly impressive.
It has a reasonably large 4" super AMOLED display with a standard resolution of 800x480, while a 1GHz dual-core processor, 768MB of RAM and 8GB are serviceable, but don't compete with most flagship phones of 2012.
Other features include a 5-megapixel rear camera, a front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera plus a microSD card slot for extra storage.
Disappointingly, the Galaxy Beam will initially ship with the now outdated Google's Android 2.3 Gingerbread Operating System (OS).
Samsung hasn't advised whether it will update the phone to the latest 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android but considering this is a niche device, we wouldn't be surprised if the answer was no.
The Samsung Galaxy Beam will launch in various markets in the coming months starting April 2012.
Conclusion
The Samsung Galaxy Beam is definitely one of the more interesting releases of 2012 so far.
It's essentially an average, mid-range Android phone that boasts a built-in HD projector as its key feature.
Source: PCAdvisor
That beam feature is so cool when your with friends hanging out and want to see some nice video ;-).
To bad older version of Android is preinstalled so I'll hope to see 4.0. I may even buy it when an update will arrive. Nice to have as an addition smartphone for parties :-D.
Posted by: Samsung Galaxy Smartphone | 15 June 2012 at 22:50
I think I'll buy one as soon as possible.
I can see myself showing my PowerPoint presentation directly from my phone.
Who needs a laptop anymore with a phone like that?
Yeah to Samsung!
Posted by: Grace | 29 March 2012 at 20:50