Video chat is all the rage when it comes to new superphones like theHTC Evo 4G and the iPhone 4, but Samsung's latest Android smartphone comes to the fore with a different would-be killer feature: a tiny "pico" projector, good for throwing an image up to 50 inches across on a nearby wall. Cool.
The Samsung Galaxy Beam, code-named Halo when it was first unveiled at this year's Mobile World Congress, is set to go on sale next week — but not in the U.S.
StarHub subscribers in Singapore will be getting first dibs starting July 17, according to a Samsung press release, followed by other territories in Asia and Europe later this year. As for North America, well ... that's still up in the air, apparently.
That doesn't mean we can't gawk, though, and there's quite a bit to gawk at. Set to arrive with version 2.1 of the Android OS (I'd imagine an update for Android 2.2 would eventually be in the cards), the 0.6-inch-thick, 5.5-ounce Beam boasts many of the same features we've been seeing on Samsung's other Galaxy-class smartphones. Front and center is the 3.7-inch Super AMOLED display (slightly smaller than the 4-inch SuperAMOLED screen on Galaxy phones like the Captivate and the Epic 4G); an 8-megapixel camera in back, plus a VGA-quality lens in front for video chat; an integrated FM radio; plus your standard Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS support.
The real standout is the Beam's built-in pico projector, powered by Texas Instrument's DLP technology. These itty bitty projectors are starting to make inroads in compact business devices and other portable devices, but they're still struggling to get a foothold on mobile phones. Samsung has already had a couple of midrange phones with DLP pico projectors built in, and LG had a handset with a snap-on projector for AT&T last year. But the Beam marks the first real smartphone I've heard of to get its own pico projector.
Personally, I've always thought the idea of a phone — particularly a smartphone — with a tiny projector inside was pretty compelling. Want to watch a movie? Dim the lights, aim the Beam at a wall in your hotel, and suddenly you're in your own little theater. Or maybe you want to watch some big-screen streaming TV, or show off a sideshow of your family vacation. Web browsing and gaming could get pretty interesting, too.
But the latest pico projectors still have a ways to go before they truly deliver a big-screen experience. I got some eyes-on time with TI's newest, Pez-size DLP chips at CES in January, and the images I saw had come a long way since the previous year's show, with resolutions up to 800 by 400 and enough lumens to throw a vivid 60-inch image onto a wall (in the dark, of course). But introduce any ambient light into the mix, and pico projector images start to look muted and washed out, as the bloggers at Engadget noticed when they tested the Beam in person.
Still, as pico projectors continue to improve over the coming months and years — to "retina"-quality and beyond, perhaps — I'm sure we'll see more and more of them find their way into cell phones. I'm looking forward to a time when pico projectors are as ubiquitous as cameras on the latest handsets.
StarHub subscribers in Singapore will be getting first dibs starting July 17, according to a Samsung press release, followed by other territories in Asia and Europe later this year. As for North America, well ... that's still up in the air, apparently.
That doesn't mean we can't gawk, though, and there's quite a bit to gawk at. Set to arrive with version 2.1 of the Android OS (I'd imagine an update for Android 2.2 would eventually be in the cards), the 0.6-inch-thick, 5.5-ounce Beam boasts many of the same features we've been seeing on Samsung's other Galaxy-class smartphones. Front and center is the 3.7-inch Super AMOLED display (slightly smaller than the 4-inch SuperAMOLED screen on Galaxy phones like the Captivate and the Epic 4G); an 8-megapixel camera in back, plus a VGA-quality lens in front for video chat; an integrated FM radio; plus your standard Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS support.
The real standout is the Beam's built-in pico projector, powered by Texas Instrument's DLP technology. These itty bitty projectors are starting to make inroads in compact business devices and other portable devices, but they're still struggling to get a foothold on mobile phones. Samsung has already had a couple of midrange phones with DLP pico projectors built in, and LG had a handset with a snap-on projector for AT&T last year. But the Beam marks the first real smartphone I've heard of to get its own pico projector.
Personally, I've always thought the idea of a phone — particularly a smartphone — with a tiny projector inside was pretty compelling. Want to watch a movie? Dim the lights, aim the Beam at a wall in your hotel, and suddenly you're in your own little theater. Or maybe you want to watch some big-screen streaming TV, or show off a sideshow of your family vacation. Web browsing and gaming could get pretty interesting, too.
But the latest pico projectors still have a ways to go before they truly deliver a big-screen experience. I got some eyes-on time with TI's newest, Pez-size DLP chips at CES in January, and the images I saw had come a long way since the previous year's show, with resolutions up to 800 by 400 and enough lumens to throw a vivid 60-inch image onto a wall (in the dark, of course). But introduce any ambient light into the mix, and pico projector images start to look muted and washed out, as the bloggers at Engadget noticed when they tested the Beam in person.
Still, as pico projectors continue to improve over the coming months and years — to "retina"-quality and beyond, perhaps — I'm sure we'll see more and more of them find their way into cell phones. I'm looking forward to a time when pico projectors are as ubiquitous as cameras on the latest handsets.
