Samsung Mobile Phone Blog

Barcelona’s recent Mobile World Congress has seen the unveiling of a number of very interesting new devices, and among them was the new Samsung Beam i8520. Despite the extremely unusual – and very interesting features – of this new device, its unveiling caught little fanfare at the exhibition, although it drew much interest from those assembled to see it. In basic terms it is a smartphone with a slight twist. The twist is that the top of the device houses an integral pico projector, and with this the user can play back videos and display images on any surface imaginable. This may well explain why the name ‘Beam’ has been chosen, and also why it will also be known as ‘Halo’ is some markets.

Initial specs indicate that the Beam will be able to project images that measure anywhere up to 50 inches diagonally, which is quite impressive from such an otherwise compact, handheld device. The Beam is also capable of running both DivX and XviD video formats and can also record 720p video at 30 frames per second through an in-built camera, though actual functionality of the camera’s build-in features for this have yet to be tested in greater detail.

One part of the phone where swanky and trendy business types might be immediately attracted to the Beam is it is capable of immediately capturing any image that happens to be in front of it in real time and subsequently projecting it onto a surface of your choice for instant, all-in-room viewing. As a result it could give rise to an immediate, impromptu meeting where, for instance, a spreadsheet can be captured on a table in front of you and then beamed onto a wall for all to see. This could make for an interesting side-selling point for the phone although it remains to be seen how often such ha facility would actually be used. It may well be, however, that the technology employed will develop further in later incarnations, as in the dimmed lighting conditions of the exhibition hall the projected images were a little strained and couldn’t be clearly viewed in their entirety.

The device, along with this, also has a range of further decent specs that are run rapidly thanks to the Android 2.1 on top of the Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface. Samsung officials told those assembled that the interface will work pretty well exactly in the same way as the Bada only with ‘a few, very small differences.’ First impressions at the exhibition do indeed indicate that both are very similar and a full review of the device once it hits the market may well reveal any differences that exist.

The display itself measures 3.7-inches and employs super AMOLED screen technology, exactly the same as Samsung uses in another of their new devices, the Wave. It also comes complete with full GPS support, Bluetooth, 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity, making it a proficient all-rounder for those requiring full connectivity – especially for business usage. Storage capacity stands at 16GB, and there is also a MicroSD slot allowing storage capacity to be bulked up if required.

When you flip the Beam over you also find a nice surprise in the form of an eight megapixel camera, and this discreet feature affords great still image capture. Just don’t be too fooled by the perceived chunkiness of the Beam – remember that the design has to take into account the fact that it is housing the pico projector, and even despite this it is not too bad and is still a touch under 15 millimetres thick. Samsung have not yet finalised a release date or a final retail price for the Beam, although many expect it to make an appearance in Europe towards the second half of 2010.