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At Mobile World Congress, Samsung quietly revealed the Beam i8520, an Android-based smart phone with a twist: a built-in pico projector that lets you play back videos on the surface of your choice.
Being louche devils, we’ve always liked the idea of projecting a film on to the ceiling as we while away a Sunday morning in bed, so the Beam, also known by its code name Halo, has got us rather hot and bothered. We can’t speak for the quality of the projected images yet, or how long the tomfoolery will last when the phone’s running on battery, but the Beam certainly offers plenty of ways to get video on to your wall, and can apparently project images of up to 50 inches diagonally.
Compatible with the DivX and Xvid video formats, the Beam can record 720p video at 30 frames per second via its camera. The Beam can also project what the camera currently sees, so, if you’re the type to hold impromptu meetings, you could hold the phone over a document and project it on to the wall.
The phone’s no slouch when it comes to the rest of its specs. Running Android 2.1, with Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface pasted on top, it packs a 94mm (3.7-inch) Super AMOLED screen — as does Samsung’s freshly birthed Wave — and offers 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth connectivity. It also has 16GB of internal storage, as well as a microSD slot, so there’ll be plenty of space to stash your happy-slapping videos.
The Beam is expected to land in Europe in the third quarter of this year for a currently undisclosed price. Click ‘Continue’ to see more of the Beam and find out how porky it is.
There’s the projector, sitting on the top of the phone.
The Beam has an 8-megapixel camera nestling in its posterior.
Considering the Beam is pregnant with a projector, it’s not too portly, measuring just under 15mm thick.
