Samsung has officially unveiled an updated version of the Galaxy Beam, a smartphone with its own built-in pico projector. The biggest feature of the phone as you might guess is its ability to project pictures, video, and other media onto walls, ceilings or any other flat surface via a 15 lumens projector that Samsung says can display images up to 50-inches wide.
Samsung originally showed off the Galaxy Beam at Mobile World Congress in 2010. At the time, the Android handset was only slated to make an appearance in Singapore. This year's announcement brings an updated version of the handset sporting Android 2.3 Gingerbread, and while release details have yet to be announced, the phone will likely be available in a few additional countries.
The 2010 version of the Beam came running Android v2.1, had a 3.7-inch screen, and a 9 lumens projector. The updated 2012 version shown off at Mobile World Congress 2011 comes running Android v2.3, has a 4-inch screen, and comes rocking a much more powerful 15 lumens projector.
The projector is the stand-out feature of the phone. Beyond that, you're looking at your standard run-of-the-mill Android handset. The phone has a 5-megapixel built-in camera, and has a 1GHz dual-core processor, 8GB of internal memory, and a 2000mAh battery.
Samsung has yet to announce pricing or availability for the 2012 Galaxy Beam.
Of course the manufacturers have their consumers pretty well pegged. All they have to do is make a new product an enigma for a few months, stick a cool sounding name like Galaxy Beam on it and claim improvements, however slight, over the previous model and presto!, they have a best seller.
Come on guys - you're all Gizmag readers - surely the amazing potential for a interactive projector with all these sensors etc can't have escaped you all?
Add a kinect or Wii controller to the mix, and it gets even more interesting (portable, and mobile interactive whiteboards!).