SpecEagle review · Samsung

Galaxy Beam review: A smartphone with a built-in DLP pico-projector for 50" video projection.

SpecEagle Editorial·Jul 2012·$540
Overall
36/100
Class rank
#1 of 1
Tier
Mid-range
Buy?
Look elsewhere
The verdict, up front

A phone with a projector.

Galaxy Beam crammed a tiny DLP pico-projector into a phone, capable of throwing a 50-inch image at 15 lumens. Modest as a smartphone and dim as a projector, it remains one of the most distinctive Samsung concepts ever shipped.

01Display

56/100

56/100 — right at the average for mid-range phones of 2012.

TypeTFT LCD
Size4.0 inches
Resolution800 × 480 px (WVGA)
Projector15 lumens DLP, up to 50" WVGA

02Camera

52/100

52/100 — right at the average for mid-range phones of 2012.

Main5 MP, autofocus, LED
Selfie1.3 MP

03Performance

44/100

44/100 — right at the average for mid-range phones of 2012.

ChipsetTI OMAP4430 dual-core 1 GHz
RAM768 MB
Storage8 GB · microSD

04Battery

50/100

50/100 — right at the average for mid-range phones of 2012.

Capacity2,000 mAh (removable)
Projection time~ 3 hours

05Build

60/100

60/100 — right at the average for mid-range phones of 2012.

06Value

56/100

56/100 — right at the average for mid-range phones of 2012.

What works
  • Built-in 15-lumen DLP projector.
  • Projected up to 50" WVGA from a phone.
  • Removable battery + microSD.
  • Quirky, unique party-trick device.
What doesn't
  • Projector was dim by any standard.
  • Modest specs for the price.
  • Niche use case.
  • Heavy 145 g.

How this review is built: every section score, spec row and comparison on this page comes from SpecEagle's tracked catalogue — scores weight measured specs against the 1-phone cohort of mid-range devices released around the same time. We don't publish invented lab anecdotes. Spot an error? .