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Chinese government database reveals new Samsung Galaxy Beam projector smartphone

Callum Tennent
March 17, 2014

Brace yourselves, another awful Samsung gimmick-phone could be on its way.

Chinese telecommunications database Tenaa has revealed what seems to be a new edition of the Samsung Galaxy Beam on their website, so far named only the ‘Samsung  SM-G3858’.

For those fortunate enough to have never had a personal encounter with the original Galaxy Beam, the big selling point of the handset was supposed to be its built-in projector. The idea, whilst fine in theory, was that you no longer had to watch movies or look at pictures on your small smartphone display. No more huddling around a handset with your friends just to watch a YouTube video, oh no – you could now  project it. Just like being at the movies!

Except it didn’t quite work like that. For starters, the Beam’s bulb projected at a mere 20 lumens. This meant that it could only throw an image on to surfaces a maximum of two or so metres away. Not only that, but your surroundings would need to be approaching pitch black for you to make out the picture clearly.

You would hope that in 2014 the industry would have moved on from the world of desperate smartphone gimmicks, but it seems that Samsung’s diverse portfolio of questionable electronics shows no signs of recession.

Samsung - New Galaxy Beam

A few images of the handset are listed on the site, along with some of its more basic specs. Its  480 Ã’ 800 pixel, 4.66 inch display stands out for all the wrong reasons – it would produce roughly 200 PPI, or less than half the resolution of Samsung’s latest flagship the S5.

Its 1.2 GHz processor will provide just 1GB of RAM – but at least it will have a pretty spectacular camera. The spec listed states a whopping 30 megapixels which, if true, would blow away just about every other phone on the market.

We’ll keep you updated on this enigma of a handset as details continue to emerge.

About the Author

Callum Tennent

International playboy/tech journalist.

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