Samsung grabs the limelight with new projector phone

It’s a phone that doubles as a home cinema — and the latest offering from Samsung was grabbing all the limelight at the opening day of the World Mobile Congress.

Using a HD projector, the Samsung Galaxy Beam can project images, including games, video clips and photographs, on to any flat surface such as a wall or ceiling.

Images are of good enough definition to be viewed up to 50 inches wide, maintains Samsung, or at least up to that of a reasonably sized television. Although the South Korean manufacturer claims its strong backlighting enables the device to be bright enough to work outside, a darkened room is necessary for effective viewing.

“The Samsung Galaxy Beam gives people the freedom to share what’s important to them instantly with family and friends,” said Simon Stanford of Samsung’s telecommunications and networks division.

“With the Galaxy Beam, people can share content from their smartphone with people around them, using it like a pocket project to create shared experiences — whether that’s watching movies, sharing holiday snaps or a spontaneous presentation.”

There was a queue of people all day yesterday at the Samsung area, to sample the product, which will go on sale in Ireland in the coming months. The handset is a fraction thicker and heavier than an average smartphone.

It is particularly suited to viewing photographs, which could be important, given that there are over 250m photographs uploaded onto Facebook everyday, according to a statement by Bret Taylor, the social network company’s chief technology officer. The Samsung Galaxy Beam has a number of stock ambiences that can be projected on a timer basis, like its candle light one which can be set to project onto a bedroom wall in conjunction with the beeping of the phone’s alarm call in the morning; or at night-time, a person could project its cartoonish “jumping sheep” onto a bedroom wall to coincide with one nodding off to sleep.

The handset’s battery provides for three hours of viewing, while its projector can last up to 20,000 hours, which should outlast, claims Samsung staff, the lifetime of a normal phone.

Samsung became the world’s leading smartphone seller last year, surpassing Apple and Nokia by shifting 95m devices in 2011. It runs its Galaxy Beam handset, along with its other smartphones, on Google’s Android operating system.

There are 18 Irish companies, excluding others dotted around the convention centre, at the Enterprise Ireland exhibition area, showcasing their range of wares.

Ireland has carved a niche in the mobile technology industry as a noted supplier of mobile applications and software, while Asia dominates in the manufacturing sphere.