Samsung Galaxy BEAM i8250 Review

Announced during the Mobile World Congress 2010, the Samsung Galaxy Beam (I8250) is a smartphone based on Google's mobile operating system (OS), Android. However, that's not the device's main claim to fame. What makes the I8250 special is its built-in projector. We had a detailed hands-on with the projector feature back in April and found it to perform very well for something integrated with a mobile phone. Our opinion hasn't changed now that we have the full commercial unit--the I8250 is a great mobile presenter. However, as a smartphone, the Galaxy Beam didn't exactly shine, with a sluggish interface that frustrated us even when performing the most basic of tasks.

Parts of our earlier hands-on with the I8250 are reproduced in this full review.

Design

Unlike the company's flagship Galaxy S, the Galaxy Beam is not a sub-10mm thin smartphone. It has a thickness of 14.9mm, which is relatively slim considering there's a projector crammed in there. The footprint of the phone is rather large at 123 x 59.8mm, but that's mainly because of the 3.7-inch display. Even though it's not super skinny like many Samsung phones, we felt the company did well to keep the Beam compact. This is especially considering dedicated handheld projectors like the 3M MPro are even larger and don't even make phone calls.

Similar to the Galaxy S, the materials used on for the I8250 are mainly plastic with a glossy finish. We would have preferred a metallic finish as that would feel more professional, especially since the business users will be one of the key target audiences for this phone. The top of the phone is where the projector lens is. This doesn't have a cover but we don't think that's going to be a problem as it is recessed so the probability of touching or breaking the lens is lower.

On the left edge of the phone right under the lens is a dial for focusing the projected image. That same side also sports volume controls and a micro-USB port for charging and syncing. The right side of the smartphone is where you'll find a 3.5mm audio jack, power button, projector shortcut key and the camera shutter. Those who use their phones as a music player may find the side location of the audio jack cumbersome when listening to music with the Beam left in a pant pocket.

The screen on the I8250 is a 3.7-inch Super AMOLED display. This screen technology was earlier seen on the Samsung Wave and Galaxy S devices. Like those two other devices, you get exception color reproduction, making the Beam a great device to view videos and images on. Below the screen is a large Home button flanked by touch-sensitive Menu and Back keys. We would have preferred physical buttons as we found ourselves going out of apps or videos accidentally on occasion, especially when trying to position the device properly when projecting an image.

On the back of the Galaxy Beam is an 8-megapixel camera with and LED flash. Memory expansion is done through a microSDHC card slot but this is found behind the battery, so turning the phone off is necessary to swap cards.

Projector

The highlight of the Beam is obviously the built-in projector by Texas Instruments and we were impressed. Even given our brightly lit office cubicle, we were able to watch the demo videos from a distance of about an arm's length. When we played the projector in a small meeting room where it was dimmer, the image quality was notably better.

Video projection at our brightly lit office cubicle.

Video projection (PowerPoint presentation) in a small meeting room.

Video projection (video) in a small meeting room.

Our initial concerns about text readability were also unfounded after we loaded Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations. While the size of the projection was smaller when looking at documents in portrait mode compared with when we were watching video clips in landscape orientation, we were still able to read the text without having to squint. The effectiveness of the built-in projector, we reckon, would be ideal for small meeting groups. It has a native resolution of 800 x 480, the same as the AMOLED screen on the Beam, so everything is reproduced pixel for pixel.

The main menu for the projector.

The user interface of the project is straightforward with eight generous square buttons. Tapping on the Projector icon activates the beamer, while Images, Videos and Documents are simply file browsers. You can also access the Alarm function from this menu. Quick Pad lets you scribble on the screen with a pen or move a visible pointer around. This will allow the presenter to easily bring viewers' attentions to specific areas of a slide or Web page without having to use a separate laser pointer.

What's also interesting is the Visual Presenter which lets you project what the camera sees. Like a visualizer projector, you can simply hold the phone above a paper document or an item you are presenting and beam what you see onto a screen for a small group of viewers.

Another use of the projector is as a flashlight. The Torch Light application facilitates this, letting you illuminate your way in four different colors. Its intensity can also be controlled using the volume controls.

In addition to the visual elements, Samsung equipped the Beam with powerful speakers. These blast from the base of the phone and are sufficient for a small meeting room. They will come in useful if you are sharing a video.

We were slightly disappointed that the I8250 did not come with a custom tripod or even a tripod mount for us to attach our own. Users will have to put it on the edge of a table or prop it up using a book or stack of files during meetings.

An impromptu screen using the provided accessory.

One useful accessory it did come with was an impromptu screen maker. With a telescopic rod, we initially thought this was simply a pointer. But if you look closer, the tip allows you to slip any piece of paper in and thereafter hold it in place using the protrusion near the base. The sheet can be put in either landscape or portrait mode depending on how you are presenting your material.

Smartphone

Samsung is known for packing phones with many features and the I8250 is no exception. Connectivity options for this smartphone include HSPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and A-GPS for satellite navigation. Its HSPA radio, specifically, supports a downlink up to 7.2Mbps and uplink up to 5.76Mbps. As usual, these are the theoretical maximum speeds and actual performance will depend on your operator's network.

Equipped with Android 2.1 (Eclair), the Beam can do anything you expect the Google mobile OS to. This includes tight integration with Gmail and Google calendar as well as access to the Android Market for a wealth of third-party apps. Convenient access to YouTube, Google Maps and a Webkit browser are also part of the package.

The Beam has the TouchWiz 3.0 layer on top of its Android OS, giving it a different look and feel from the default Android user interface. It comes with a fixed set of shortcuts on the home screen that gives quick access to Phone, Contacts, Messaging and Applications. Apps on the main menu are laid out in a grid format with 16 icons per screen. Unlike the standard Android interface, new apps will be located in the last screen rather than in alphabetical order. The video player on the Samsung Galaxy Beam supports up to 720p files and plays DivX/XviD videos without conversion, making it easy to view your digital content.

For more details about TouchWiz 3.0 for Android, read our review of the Galaxy S as the Beam's version is identical except for the inclusion of the projector software.

The 8-megapixel camera on the I8520 comes with autofocus and an LED for lighting up dark subjects. Videos can be captured up to 720p at 30fps. Image quality was decent with good sharpness and color reproduction in most shooting situations. There is also a front camera for making video calls.

Performance

One feature the Beam doesn't share with the Galaxy S is the new 1GHz Hummingbird processor. The I8250 comes instead with a TI OMAP3440 720MHz chip and 384MB RAM for running applications. While the clock speed doesn't appear to be much slower, the actual performance is. Using the Galaxy Beam was a lesson in patience as it was sluggish in most areas from the get-go.

For example, pressing the button to get back to the home screen from an open app took us about 3 seconds each time. That's unacceptable considering the Home screen is the starting point for almost all tasks. Another fundamental task of accessing our contacts took another 3 seconds if you don't already have it running in the background.

This sluggishness is felt in many areas when using the phone. The fact that it surfaces when performing basic tasks such as making calls and sending text messages made it all the more frustrating. On a few occasions, the video player also crashed when an email notifications came in, resulting in us having to perform a soft reset (turn the phone off completely before booting up again). We initially thought this was a fault with our review unit, but after getting it swapped for a different set, the experience was still the same.

The latest Android 2.2 (Froyo) software improves performance in the Nexus One significantly. While this could be a solution to the Beam's woes, Samsung said a Froyo update for the I8520 is "yet to be confirmed, but there are no plans in the immediate future".

If the Beam really isn't going to get Android 2.2, Samsung needs to release a firmware update that will address some of the performance matters--if it is indeed a software issue.

Because of the projector feature, the I8520 comes with a massive 1,800mAh battery. Without turning on the projector, this is good for slightly over one day of smartphone use with Gmail set to sync automatically and occasional use of social-networking apps and the Internet browser.

We also looped a video clip displayed using the projector at full brightness with volume at half of maximum. The 3G radio was turned on but no calls or text messages were made during the period. This yielded 2 hours 46 minutes of playtime before the device automatically turned off the projector. We liked that the device did not get very hot during the test period as some mini projectors do. Do note that we do not have a standard set of battery tests for mobile projectors so this is just an estimate of what the 1,800mAh cell is capable of. In all likelihood, you'll probably get a longer period of use with a static slideshow instead of video playback.

We had no issues with the voice quality of the phone. Reception was also good with no dropped calls experienced during our testing period.

Conclusion

If you need a projector in your pocket at a moment's notice, then there's no need to think twice--the Samsung Galaxy Beam is your phone. Its pico projector is the device's best feature.

But if the Android smartphone part of the equation is just as, or more important, give the I8520 a miss. Its slow performance is unbecoming of a high-end smartphone and the uncertainty of a Froyo update compounds the issue.