Samsung I8520 "Halo" Projector Phone (Galaxy Beam)

Discontinued
15th February 2010

The Samsung I8520 is a high-end smartphone with a large screen, WiFi, GPS, 3.5G support plus one very unusual feature - a built-in projector.

Long-time subscribers might have a feeling that they have seen this before.. because Samsung did announce something very similar last year, the Samsung i7410 which appears to have been cancelled.

At the moment, Samsung are not saying exactly what operating system the I8520 runs, but the rumours are that this is an Android 2.1 handset that has been given the new TouchWiz 3.0 interface, making it look very much like the Bada-based Wave S8500.

There's a large 3.7" 800 x 480 pixel Super AMOLED display dominating the front of the I8520, which is the same type of new technology that the Wave uses. On the back is an 8 megapixel camera with autofocus and flash.. and on the top is the projector lens and a small thumbwheel control which is presumably the focus.

Samsung say that the camera can also capture HD video, stating that it is capable of 720p resolution at 30 frames per second. One interesting application of the I8520 would therefore be instant video capture and playback via the projector.

Inside, the I8520 is packed with features too. It supports 3.5G downloads and uploads, WiFi (including 802.11n), a multimedia player that can cope with all common formats including DivX and Windows Media, an FM radio, 3.5mm audio socket, microSD expandable memory, plus USB and Bluetooth connectivity.

This is a fairly big device, measuring 123 x 60 x 15mm, but then remember you are getting a very large screen and a projector squeezed into the handset. Samsung say that the huge 1800 mAh battery is capable of over 7 hours talktime on 3G and 22 days standby time.

The projector is a Texas Instruments DLP Pico Projector, and TI are pretty much the market leaders in this type of technology.. so you can expect the projector to be pretty good.

But is there actually any need for a projector in a mobile phone at all? It's never going to be as good for presentations as a desktop projector, and most people's homes are not ideal for projection either due to furniture and other objects that get in the way. It's a very cool piece of technology, yes, but will it be useful? We really don't know, but the I8520 is a sexy enough handset to sell in its own right, so perhaps this phone will open up a new and unexplored market.

The unconfirmed rumour is that the I8520 will be called the Halo (update: it is now called the Samsung Galaxy Beam), but there's no word on when this handset will become available, how much it will cost or any confirmation about what it actually runs underneath. But one thing is for sure - this is a very attractive looking handset and it is certainly going to generate some real interest.

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