The Samsung Galaxy Beam is in the news again today and will apparently be making its way to the market this April. This is not the Beam from a few years ago, but the new Android 2.3 Gingerbread powered Galaxy Beam that was announced and we received hands-on time with at Mobile World Congress complete with a bright pico projector.
We’ve heard a few leaks that the new Galaxy Beam will be available in the UK sometime this summer but newer reports have detailed the projector smartphone will be available in India as soon as mid-April. Sadly no reports have been released even hinting at a US release so for now we’ll have to just keep on dreaming.
While the feature probably isn’t a huge must have for all smartphone buyers, there is a certain appeal, not to mention business users could really find it handy. The Galaxy Beam isn’t a top end phone but does feature a 4-inch AMOLED display, a 1.0 GHz dual-core processor, Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread and comes in at least a nice yellow color as shown from our hands-on links below. It has a 2,000 mAh battery and the pico projector mounted on top features 15 lumen of brightness — enough for a few quick presentations should the situation present itself.
At least a few markets will be seeing this device, we’ll update once or if we hear anything regarding a US launch. Would you be interested in a smartphone with a built-in pico projector?
[via Androinica]
I wouldn’t mind having the yellow color as an option. That’s hot!
As someone who has owned the original Samsung Galaxy Beam projector phone for 1.5 years (Model I8520 launched in singapore only), I can tell you that a projector in a phone is a great thing. To not have a projector in a phone now would be like loosing the MP3 player or camera. A projector is far beyond a gimmick, I have used it alot over the last 1.5 years. Basically in a darkened room you have a 40 inch telly in your pocket. Mainly stream my media (movies / tv shows) from Computer HD to phone over WIFI and project onto wall in bedroom, Music videos in darkened room at parties, sharing of photos / videos / nights out with friends, Baby sitter when all other televisions in house was being used, Hotels, bathtubs, footpath / sidewalk, car, so many places, also super bright torch (and red camera torch for astronomy). However I am disapointed with the recently announced Galaxy Beam (2). First of all they should have given it another name to differentiate it from the very different model released almost 2 years earlier. Also when the original Beam was released it had top of the range specs. The new galaxy beam should be quad core. My older Galaxy beam has an 8 megapixel camera, why does the new one only have 5 megapixels? My Beam has superior loud clear stereo speaker quality. And why have they halved the internal memory to 8GB when my old Galaxy Beam has 16GB. I could not possibly have another phone without a projector and still be happy – because I would truelly know what I am missing, so I am glad that another projector phone has been announced. It just needs a spec upgrade (and a dedicated camera button)With my old Galaxy Beam, I get 2.5 – 3 hours projection out of a battery. A full day use without too much projector use and the original beam has a smaller battery…