back to article Samsung's projector phone beamed up to Blighty

Samsung's Galaxy Beam - the smartphone with a built-in projector - is set to hit UK shelves this month after retailers revealed its expected release date. The Samsung Galaxy Beam was on show at Mobile World Congress in February, sporting a 4in, 480 x 800 display and a 1Ghz dual-core processor running Android 2.3. The obvious …

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  1. Tom_
    Thumb Down

    A 50 inch beam, you say?

    It makes me want to weep to read this kind of assertion.

    What do they actually mean? Is it a rectangle with a 50 inch diagonal if projected onto a surface some specific distance from the phone? If so, then why not say how far away that is? It's just noise otherwise.

    1. Clive Galway

      Re: A 50 inch beam, you say?

      I dunno, I think it is quite intuitive.

      I take it to mean that you can achieve a 50 inch viewing area - beyond that it is too dim or not focused.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      How long do the batteries last?

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: A 50 inch beam, you say?

      It's not so much the size as the lumens that matters.

  2. Olafthemighty
    Alien

    Can't imagine I'd actually use the projector much

    So why do I still want one?

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

      1. Lord Elpuss Silver badge
        FAIL

        @Fandom

        Way to miss the point, bud.

        He's saying that even though he will probably never use the primary feature of this phone, he still, in for some inexplicable reason, wants to buy it.

        Same argument applies to the majority of people who buy big 4x4s with the ability to drive over mountains; in all probability they'll never use the capability, but it's nice to know they could if they wanted to.

    2. chris 143
      Thumb Up

      Re: Can't imagine I'd actually use the projector much

      Yeah me too

      Now if they could leave it the bootloader unlocked and not make the phone too expensive I'm sure I could have fun with one of these

    3. Giles Jones Gold badge

      Re: Can't imagine I'd actually use the projector much

      Sodcasting video as well as sound.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I can see it now, Underground tube stations with porn projected on every wall when trains pull into the station...

    1. Tapeador

      That's interesting

      as a new category of dodgy self-expression: offensive image-sharing (?)

      I suspect we'll hear about new categories of harassment and public order offences, as feral types get hold of these and broadcast their misanthropy, in the form of large sweary text &c, to unsuspecting members of the public.

      Probably the selfsame chavs will be watching movies and music videos on the tube with the sound AND the image blaring out...

      We'll find imagine in the Daily Mail of people doing same... and creative ways for individuals and groups do use it for nice stuff.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Sigh...

      I call porn-godwin, this thread is over.

      1. The First Dave
        Joke

        Re: Sigh...

        Sorry, not been 3 minutes yet, can't stop...

  4. nichomach
    Go

    I'll believe it when I see it...

    Seriously, the "Galaxy Beam" has been coming really soon now for about 2-3 years. Don't get me wrong, I love the idea (although I have NO idea what I'd use it for...).

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    720p...

    ...in the 640x360 sense (i.e. a quarter of 720p resolution). I suspect it can show 720p video and downsample it, though.

    It may not make a vast difference for watching videos projected onto the back of the train seat in front of you, but it'd be nice if someone could get a few more pixels in there for ad-hoc presentations or web pages.

    1. WonkoTheSane
      Facepalm

      Re: 720p...

      Never mind the pixels, feel the lumens.

      A video projector that only works in coal mine at midnight worse than useless

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Holmes

        Re: 720p...

        I was going to make the same point myself.

        At work, I use a full-size video projector onto a dedicated whiteboard from a range of about 6ft, and still have to draw the blinds to get a decently bright image. The idea that some feeble LED running off a phone battery is suddenly going to enable World and Dog to enjoy 'teh Lulz' by projecting giant pr0n all over the place, in 'normal' lighting conditions, is a bit over-optimistic.

        File my tuppence worth also under "Don't really see the point"

        1. jonathanb Silver badge

          Re: 720p...

          It is 15 lumens. I did a quick google search for projectors. The first link was a google ad for dell, and the cheapest "small room" projector they do is 2500 lumens. If you ask their sales rep what it is like, they would probably say it is OK, but you are better getting one if their more expensive and brighter projectors. 15lm is probably around the typical brightness of a phone screen, fine to look at, but not to look with.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: 720p...

            But then it depends how far away from the wall you want it. You aren't going to project to a normal projector screen, but to a while wall on a train about 1 metre or less away.

  6. Clive Galway
    Thumb Up

    Interesting use?

    If you coupled this with screenslider (App that lets you use android device as an extra monitor for your PC) it would make a decent sized second screen for gaming (Voice comms window, maps etc)

  7. JaitcH
    Unhappy

    Ghost of Jobs / Apple will cry prior art

    Remember when you used to use a torch (flashlight) to project shapes made by your fingers on to bedroom walls?

    Watch Apple undoubtedly claim prior art, so they can copy it.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Facepalm

      Re: Ghost of Jobs / Apple will cry prior art

      What if several dozen other commentards cited prior art in suing you for making the obligatory, brain-meltingly tedious "apple+lawyers" reply to every fucking story that's been on El Reg for about the past year?

  8. Tom Simnett

    ICS?

    Why, if it's being released in the summer, can't it come with ICS?

  9. LinkOfHyrule
    FAIL

    This will only be used by chav kids to watch youtube vids of shit pop/urban/dance music on buses in provincial towns - expect to have to have Justin Bieber and random rappers projected on to the back of your head on the way home from work if you use public transport!

    1. JDX Gold badge

      It shows your age that you consider every kid who plays music on their mobile phone to be a chav. I find the same thing - the older I get the more kids I view with distrust.

      1. lotus49
        Thumb Down

        Being suspicious of children says more about you than them

        I have three children of my own and the more time I spend with children (not just my own), the more I realise that the vast majority of them are far more pleasant than most of the adults I know.

        Children are more open, honest and fun than adults and they never boast about how much their house is worth. Children are noisy and usually rather sticky but in general, they are charming and likeable. By contrast, most adults I come across suck. I like my wife though.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Being suspicious of children says more about you than them

          @Lotus49 - An upvote isn't enough, so I just thought I'd say so...

          People seem to think that the thing that makes them remember a group applies to the whole group, see:

          BMW Drivers and dangerous driving

          Cyclists and shooting red lights

          Kids and being obnoxious in the street

          etc.

          etc.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Being suspicious of children says more about you than them

          that's funny, we like your wife more too

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "I have three children of my own and the more time I spend with children (not just my own), the more I realise that the vast majority of them are far more pleasant than most of the adults I know."

    Do you work in a prison?

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Rather have a huge laser to be honest. Galaxy Zap?

  12. Martin Huizing

    Shut up!

    And take my money!

  13. Alan Brown Silver badge

    What a pity they can't put all the good bits in ONE package

    Galaxy Note, waterproof, decent battery life(*), with slider keyboard, projector and S3 internals?

    I thought not (even if 15 lumens is so feeble it'll be virtually unusuable)

    As for the Galaxy Zap - will it come with a shark attachment feature?

    (*) If it can't run 18 hours with GPS enabled then it's a fat lot of use trying to use the navigation features to stop getting lost in London.

    (*2) Most of the 3rd party Galaxy "fat" batteries are junk which at best give slightly better runtime than the OEM one. I call "bullshit" on the claimed mAh ratings.

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