Samsung Galaxy Beam / Reviews

The Samsung Galaxy Beam is all about its power packed projector. Its performance is amazing. It may be used by professionals for presentation. For a general user, it may not be of much use. Apart from it, all other features you can get in many other smart phones at almost half the price. But its overall performance is brilliant. Its battery life is good.

Read original review at TelecomTiger.

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The Galaxy Beam is a pretty difficult phone to sum up. The projector is a brilliant addition and works surprisingly well, but the phone side of the device is a bit of a let down as it's slightly underpowered for the price and comes running an older version of Android. If it's mainly the projector bit you're interested in then you may think it's worth the money, but if you're primarily looking for a speedy, high-end phone and will only use the projector occasionally then it's probably best to look elsewhere.

Read original review at TrustedReviews.

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There's definitely some excitement to be had when reviewing a device so out of the ordinary, but we found it a little difficult to make a final judgment call. The Galaxy Beam does well at what it claims to be good at (projecting media), but it's otherwise mediocre at best. That's not to say it's a horrible phone, but the low-to-mid-range feature set makes it a tough sell at $430, especially when you can pay the same price for much nicer devices these days. In this situation, it means that you either have to love the projector enough to justify the higher price, or the feature is so important to your business that you're willing to sacrifice a lot of modern functionality to get it.

The Beam is interesting as a proof of concept, but we don't see it blossoming into anything more than that at the present time. That's not to say this über-specific category doesn't have a future, but something as unique as a projector would likely find more success in a more premium phone: it needs to be incorporated into higher-end devices without making compromises in components, firmware or size. Only then can it be viable as a mainstream device. Until then, it's a fun gadget to show off to friends, but that's the extent of its strengths.

Read original review at Engadget.

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The new Galaxy Beam is a good successor to the previous Beam. The phone is sleek even though there is a projector. The projection is bright, and there are several features in the projector app. Since the 3.5mm audio jack is at the side, you can plug-in an external speaker while you project a video. The additional battery along with a portable charger is very useful, that lets you charge the battery in advance. You can watch a whole movie for about 2 and half hours with a single charge when the display of the phone is off. If you are not using the projector, the 2000 mAh battery lasts for a whole day, with few hours of music, few calls and some photos. The phone still runs on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) which is dissapointing. The price is a bit high compared to other Android phones in the market, but if you really need a feature packed phone with a projector that you can carry in your pocket, this is a smart option.

Read original review at Fone Arena.

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The Galaxy Beam is a handy projector-phone hybrid. It fills in the niche for those who wants a portable cinema, as well as a handy presentation kit. Even the phone is not entirely power hungry, it is thoughtful of Samsung to provide a spare battery and a standalone charger to keep your phone running.

Read original review at Mobile88.

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The Samsung Galaxy Beam is a competent smartphone though the version of Android is a bit of a let down. Its two batteries give it superb longevity and its physical design is attractive. The projector is a bit of a gimmick though it works well within its limitations of projection size and darkness requirements.

Read original review at Know Your Mobile.

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The Samsung Galaxy Beam is a competent smartphone though the version of Android is a bit of a let down. Its two batteries give it superb longevity and its physical design is attractive. The projector is a bit of a gimmick though it works well within its limitations of projection size and darkness requirements. 

Of course you pay for that projector and the Beam is a bit more expensive than other handsets with similar general specs. 

Read original review at Know Your Mobile.

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Is that Samsung Galaxy Beam a unique or niche device? You betcha! Does is also function perfectly as a very acceptable Android smartphone? Absolutely. Yes the processor and lack of HD resolution is a little behind the times, but these same specs come with many budget phones, only this one packs a projector too. If you need a pico projector as well as a smartphone but don’t need the absolute best of either, this is a great choice.

Read original review at Android Community.

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The Samsung GALAXY Beam is certainly a specialty device. If you have a need for a projector that’s also a smartphone, or a smartphone that’s also a projector – this is your only real legitimate choice. This smartphone is powerful enough to be your normal everyday driver, but you’re certainly going to want to know that you’ll be using the projector on a daily basis to make it all worth your while.

Read original review at SlashGear.

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We found its performance pretty good for the casual media sharing, though the low brightness and the uninspiring resolution hardly make it a great work tool. It's pretty clear that the I8530 Beam was aimed at youngsters rather than professionals and that seems like the more reasonable approach.

The projector alone is enough to put the new Galaxy Beam in a niche of its own and it's really hard to compare it to any other devices on the market. So what we need to find instead is how much does the projector cost you and if it's worth it.

Samsung is targeting a niche market with the release of the Beam, and as such faces no real competition. That being said, should you buy the Galaxy Beam for its projection capabilities? Given that purchasing a separate projector will be even more expensive than getting the Beam we'd probably say yes. But if you can, you might want to hold off a bit. Odds are the price will fall to more reasonable levels once the Galaxy Beam has been on the market for a few months and you might be able to get a much sweeter deal.

Read original review at GSMArena.

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