
The phone with a projector - saket123
http://www.samsung.com/global/microsite/galaxybeam/feature.html
======
polshaw
This is actually really neat. Another step along the 'phone is the _only_
device you need' road.

It would be great for quickly sharing stuff like a youtube video. Kids could
use it to watch a movie in their room, or at a friend's, or grandma's.
Similarly, it could be great for the travelling. I can see some really great
augmented reality uses for this, provided there is enough developer interest.

Don't scoff at it because it doesn't match up to your 'real' projector-- it
has some cool uses. The specs may not be so great yet (640x360 resolution, 15
Lumens), but it's very impressive that they got this into just 12.5mm thick
phone, and specs (particularly resolution) will improve in future products.

~~~
marcusf
This does carry the hallmarks of disruption (in the true Christensen sense of
the word).

If I were a projector company, I'd invest heavily in designing low power
projection chips to sell to handset makers / make phone-sized projects to
integrate with handsets. Maybe that already exists (beyond this phone)? I have
to say I'm not well read on the state of the art here.

~~~
Schwolop
As a budding robot maker, I'd much rather they build a focus-less laser
projector that's higher power and daylight visible. I don't give a rat's arse
about handheld projection, but projectors on mobile robots are the future, and
changing the focus of a regular beam projector on the fly by measuring the
distance to the wall and then adjusting feels like a dodgy hack when I know
there are laser devices in the market that just don't need to do this at all.

~~~
marcusf
Sounds cool. Are you working on anything in particular where you use a mobile
projector today?

~~~
Schwolop
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3800926>

I'm doing customer discovery/development at the moment before going too far
into the actual prototyping. My current business model has changed a bit so
the first product might end up being aimed at enterprises - essentially taking
the top half of the robot platform described in that link and putting it in
the middle of a conference table. The aim being to bring virtual conferencing,
remote desktop assistance, and tele-presentations to the same level of
efficacy as being there in person.

So the product lets you do things like background subtraction behind the
presenter, then stitching their image into the actual presentation or screen.
Simultaneously the presenter gets to see the augmented image on a nearby wall
by way of the projector part (like a portable green-screen). If both sides of
the communication have the device then you can do cool stuff like rotating the
projector to simulate having one party actually _in_ the room with the other
party. Add to that gestural and voice-controlled interfaces and I think its a
step change improvement from existing systems.

------
sambeau
This sounds great at first but I'm unclear about how usable it would actually
be. Any pressure on the device would cause the screen to jump about.

I could see it being ok in start-then-put-down mode for Movies and Slideshows.
But how often do we use phones like that? I look at photos in tiny batches
normally with one other person, usually in a crowded place: pub, restaurant,
car. I rarely watch movies on my iPhone but when I do it is usually on a train
or in a car.

The need for a static white wall and a conveniently tall table in an uncrowded
space makes me question the utility of this at all.

~~~
camtarn
You could probably use it in more impromptu ways - e.g. by holding it above a
sheet of A4 paper in a suitably dark pub, to allow an entire table to view a
photo or video rather than having to pass a phone around. It wouldn't be
stable at all, but being able to just beam a photo onto a random surface is
pretty cool (although: cool enough to buy a phone solely for that feature? I'm
not sure.)

~~~
317
I think you could patch up a stabilisation algorithm pretty quickly for this
purpose...

~~~
Schwolop
Not without a pan/tilt mirror or reducing the available resolution.

------
lifeisstillgood
This is a real attempt to go after a market that has been trying to exist for
a while.

Back in the late 90's i laughed at Salesforce pitch people coming in dragging
two carry-ons on wheels - one for the laptop one for the projector.

Now they can slip them into pockets.

Its a real market, and the next step is I put down my phone as a projector,
you control the projector from your phone.

~~~
teyc
It is also useful for casual meetings.

As a side thought, while convergence is great - we no longer carry a separate
music player, video player, phone and now mobile projectors, I've increasingly
run into more people carrying spare batteries around.

~~~
saket123
Great point about battery. This one ships with 2000mAh. Which is enough for 3
hours of playtime. I wonder how useful such low battery life would be
considering that you will rarely have 100% battery on your phone.

------
archivator
Here's a hands-on from The Verge -
[http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/26/2825474/samsung-galaxy-
bea...](http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/26/2825474/samsung-galaxy-beam-hands-
on) . Contrast is pretty bad in an indoor-lit environment.

I also can't tell if it's autofocusing or a laser projector. I can't imagine
having an autofocus lens on a package this small but then again the contrast
is worse than what I'd expect from laser projection.

~~~
simcop2387
I imagine the contrast issue is one of raw power. stuff too large a set of
laser diodes in there and you end up with it stealing all of the battery life
easily.

------
sohamsankaran
A local cellphone company called Micromax has been offering a projector phone
in India since last year, and its been doing rather well. Anecdotally, people
[in Mumbai] seem to be using it as a TV replacement, both due to the lower
cost and higher portability (important because of the impermanence of the
chawls and slums that house just under half of the city's population).

------
btn
This is a new version of the Samsung i8520 [1], announced/released in 2009/10,
but with a lower resolution camera and projector (although that says little
about quality).

[1]: <http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i8520_beam-3150.php>

------
splicer
There are a few other micro projectors on the market:

<http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/03/sanwa-iphone4-projector/>

<http://www.microvision.com/showwxplus/>

------
Tim-Boss
As someone who has forgone any TV's in place of a pretty heavy duty projector
in my living room, I can say with some certainty that 15 lumens will barely be
visible even in a pitch black room! My full-size/spec projector puts out about
2500 lumens and is still hard to see with the curtains open in the day time!

I view this in the same way I view "fun-size" candy bars...an interesting
novelty for kids, completely impractical for most everyone else!

~~~
jim_h
My 25 lumen 800x600 res pico projector does just fine when I close my shades.

Of course you can't expect that 2500 lumens much against the power of the
sun..

------
pan69
It sorta looks like Samsung is turning into the next Nokia. Putting out a lot
of devices with gimmick features. I guess there must be a market for it.

~~~
ukdm
There will be a huge market for this, especially among the younger generations
and when combined with access to video services like YouTube. Projectors in
phones will become a standard feature just like cameras imo. They just need to
make the pico projector unit smaller.

~~~
Tyrannosaurs
I'm not convinced. When I think about kids or my childhood, it tends not to
involve hanging out in places with a decent surface to project on and semi
darkness to get a good image (or if they are in a place like that they've got
access to a TV).

Perhaps when the tech has improved (both sound and vision) this becomes the
replacement for the TV in the kids room - just plug it into a charger and
project it onto the wall streaming over the net - but it doesn't feel like a
mobile thing for them.

Remember, while this tech improves so do other displays. The expected standard
will go up and the price of competing products will go down.

When you can have a large screen, hi-def TV in every room that you can
wirelessly and effortlessly connect a mobile device to, which comes without
the issues associated with projection (shadows, light and so on), why would
you want a projector?

------
npsimons
Here's what all the naysayers sound like to me:

"A phone with a camera? That's just a useless gimmick, it will never take off.
The resolution is horrible, there's no flash, no zoom and the picture quality
is bad besides."

Those who want "just a phone" may have a valid argument (side note - look into
the Jitterbug, it might be just what they want), but the rest sound like the
arguments of backwards-thinking people with no vision.

~~~
JackC
I think maybe it's a difference between "this is a cool product" and "this is
a cool tech demo." As a tech demo, it's a neat idea that's been tried before.
It becomes news when someone manages to put together a shipping product that
actually lets you do new and useful things with your phone.

So is this that product? Well I can't help noticing that every single image on
the Samsung site is a (bad) Photoshop. And looking at their ad video, I'm
pretty sure that's special effects too -- compare it to the Verge video at
about 00:25, and they look nothing alike. So if the manufacturer is showing
solely fictional renderings of how they wish their product worked ... it's
possible that a little naysaying is still in order.

(That said, I totally agree that it's a great vision -- I'm just not sure
Samsung has, you know, brought this particular vision into the light of day
yet.)

------
eli
Back when Nokia was cool (maybe 2005) I saw them demo a phone that could
project not just a display, but a working full size keyboard on a table.

------
instakill
Projectors might be a bit gimmicky, but bundling certain functions into a
phone's design can have drastic effects on a market. For instance, the most
successful mobile phones in central Africa are those that have a torch and/or
a radio, because that is what people in that area need. How many people will
want a projector in a phone that will use it for serious business?

------
Karunamon
I like the idea but.. 3 hour battery? _OUCH!_

~~~
aperrien
I'm assuming that's only while actively projecting...

------
iuguy
It seems like Samsung are throwing phones out to see what sticks. While I
think projectors could be useful, I'd be concerned about battery life and
heat, not to mention what was cut out to fit this in. Hopefully they'll come
to realise that the experience of using the phone is what wins, not how many
widgets you can stick on one.

~~~
gokhan
So the one in your pocket is just a phone to make calls and nothing else? No
GPS? No sensors or something? Gyro? If so, I don't think it's a winner.

~~~
ctdonath
Yes. That's exactly what I want: a phone to make calls and nothing else. There
is, in fact, such a market - and I'm surprised almost nobody has taken it
seriously.

I carry an iPad darn near everywhere I go. I _don't want_ another device which
demands yet another data plan. I don't need GPS, camera, projector, gyros,
etc. in it. I want a phone which _makes calls really well_ ... and I haven't
found it. The phone I use now is a years-old POS candybar thing that the
Verizon dealer found in a back room after I spent half an hour ranting about
how I want "just a phone" that's thin and simple, one that's not an inch thick
in my pocket and/or loaded down with lots of other "features" which just add
weight, volume, and cost (methinks he was delighted to finally sell the thing
to someone for $1).

"Winner" doesn't have to mean "huge hit" or "includes kitchen sink". "Winner"
can be something that a reliable niche is willing to pay a premium and serious
markup for. I want a phone that takes great pains to make every nuance of the
call perfect & pleasant. We're so used to what's wrong with making calls that
we don't realize it's wrong. Make a phone that's small, thin, ergonomic, great
sound, great voice control, great battery life, auto-syncs contacts, clean
robust Bluetooth earpiece support (if not built into the earpiece entirely)
etc. - done right, that will be a winner for a non-trivial market. Someone
_did_ make a laudable effort at it ("John's Phone"), but failed by putting
space for storing a paper-and-pencil contact list, and by focusing on form
over function. Someone, please, take the simple act of making a call
_seriously_ without any cameras & GPS & sensors & gyros etc.

Yes, I want a phone in my pocket which is just a phone to make calls and
nothing else. I've already got a tablet which does everything else.

~~~
Schwolop
I'd agree with this if it wasn't for wanting my contacts synchronised. That's
enough of a reason to have a data plan on the phone for me.

(I guess if someone did bite off this market, they could find a way around
that.)

~~~
Retric
You mean like a USB charger that syncs with your PC.

~~~
Schwolop
Yes, but I think you'll agree that getting them over the air is _better_.
However, this would be adequate, just not _as_ good.

------
bwag
Am I the only one that thinks their use case of leaving the phone in your
child's room projecting a unicorn on the ceiling to help them sleep is just
pure nonsense?

[http://www.samsung.com/global/microsite/galaxybeam/use_occas...](http://www.samsung.com/global/microsite/galaxybeam/use_occasions07.html)

~~~
jahewson
It's great until you get a text message...!

------
gouranga
Another way for teenagers to annoy the hell out of me on busses...

(after the invention of the mobile phone speaker)

------
TeMPOraL
Reminds me of Sixth Sense [1] as demoed on TED, but the projector is placed in
a bad location for this kind of application.

[1] - <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SixthSense>

------
sirclueless
Well, it certainly looks sleeker than LG's attempt at this [1].

[1] [http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/07/lg-expo-projector-
hands-o...](http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/07/lg-expo-projector-hands-on/)

------
sparknlaunch12
Nice idea but heat and battery life will be an issue.

There is a market for this but most will just hook up to their monitor or
iPad. People serious about projection will must likely have a real one.

~~~
philipdlang
Exactly - what are the odds the battery doesn't actually last 3 hours? And how
functional is it to project a movie on your phone, but then have a dead phone
that you can't use the rest of the day.

~~~
sparknlaunch12
This technology feels ahead of its time. If battery life wasn't an issue on
mobile devices this would be a massive product. Unfortunately battery life
still sux.

We would all love a projector on our phones, but we need battery power.

Ever run a flash light app on your phone? Imagine watching an hour of video on
a projector...

------
abend
Neat idea, but the resolution is awful. What can you do with 640x360? This
would be great if it could do 1080p or even 720p. Not 360p.

~~~
imurray
_What can you do with 640x360?_ — better than VHS quality. Sure I'd prefer HD,
but that resolution was good enough to enjoy films in my childhood, so seems a
feasible _start_ for this technology now.

------
samwillis
Does anyone know which projector technology they are using in this?

Edit: Should have googled first, its a TI DLP nHD projector apparently.

~~~
unwind
Googled? What about reading the linked-to page? It's right there, after all.
Even "above the fold", for some value of current screen resolution.

------
millzlane
Another great addition to the android family. Samsung is a forward thinking
company unlike the other guys. Sure many of us may not use it. But it's a TOOL
and many of us will use it!

My Android device has HDMI out, reads SD card and even picks up FM radio for
Emergencies . Apple's iPhone is a deathtrap without the internet.

------
stefanix
I was great this is awesome then I watched their promo video and have to say I
feel I just ate way too much cake. I feel ill now. Wow this is bad. I am just
not used to this kind of shit anymore after years of watching everything
commercial-free on the internet.

------
tocomment
Is there a chance a future iPhone would ever include this?

------
datagramm
Those Samsung web people have some serious Photoshop skills! For a second
there I thought that was a real photograph of a hockey puck flying out of a
phone screen.

------
Achshar
What is with the 6 gb ram and 8 gb rom?

------
revorad
This could be the device for coding on the go.

------
dmazin
The gimmick-ness of this is just astounding.

