A built-in projector gives a slim phone a giant screen

Show Time The Samsung Show W7900 lets you project images from your phone Warner Bros./Everett Collection

The stunning colors and contrast on the Samsung Show's 3.2-inch OLED screen would be enough to make it a multimedia wonder. But the phone really earns its name from an integrated projector that displays 100-inch images.

Other "pico" projectors are themselves bigger than iPods and attach to a cellphone with a cable. By squeezing a projector into the phone, Samsung ensures that you always have a big screen handy—say, for viewing movies on an airplane seat back or photos on a tabletop.

Breadth of Fresh Vision: The Samsung Show has a 3.2-inch OLED screen--and an integrated projector that can display 100-inch images  Brian Klutch; Inset: Warner Bros./Everett Collection

The company slimmed its pico by using ultra-efficient LED lamps. They allow the phone's lithium-ion battery to power about three hours of projection—plus phone calls and Web surfing.

The Show premiered in Korea in February, but Samsung hasn't announced yet when it or another projector-equipped phone will come to the U.S. For Americans tired of squinting at tiny screens, one can’t come soon enough.

See a slideshow and video of the Show in action.

SAMSUNG SHOW W7900

Projector: 480 x 320 pixels, up to 100 in. diagonal, 10 lumens
Screen: 240 x 400 pixels, 3.2-in.
Wireless: 3G HSDPA at 7.2 Mbps
Cameras: 5 MP main, 0.3 MP front-facing model for video calls
Size: 4.4 x 2.2 x 0.7 in.
Price: $490 (Korea only)

5 Comments

$490, way too much for me.

That is less then the Iphone was when it first came out and thousands of people bought it within the first month, the moment this phone goes on the market it be a best seller.

the only thing I am unclear on is the video chat, what is this about it only being in Korea?

The Samsung W7900 is actually about $800.00 without a contract in Korea. I am currently in Korea on business and I just purchased one and I signed up for a two year contract with a plan of 450 minutes a month for W50,000 ($38.50 using a conversion rate of W1,300 to $1.00) and the cost of the phone is $25,000 ($19.25) per month for two years. The phone is currently locked to the KTF carrier for use in Korea only. It does use a SIM chip and is capable of working on a WCDMA and GSM system. I was told I could use the phone in the US via roaming but I could not register it with a US carrier (USA SIM chip). I am looking into trying to get the phone unlocked so that I can register the phone in the US. I can say the phone is soooo cool! It is light weight, compact, and the features are awesome. Of course my favorite is the built in projector but the digital TV tuner is also fantastic. It gets great reception with a crystal clear picture. The video conferencing feature is great too but this service in only available in Korea. The phone supports two GUI languages, Korean and English. I have change my GUI to English and found some features are not supported in English - mainly the voice dialing function is only available in Korean. The other minor functions not supported in English are not important (such as a map of the Seoul subway system). Overall excellent product....I can't wait to see the next generation of this phone.

Ya it looks like a neat phone but the price, I mean they could atleast chop it down a bit, but all of its great features might be worth it. It could be something to keep watching. Overall it looks like a neat little gadget, one that may bring some attention to the human eye. If of course it even comes to the us lol.

breinrules

from Cordova, Cebu

Better buy the chinese projector phone. I think its less than 200$ but with a better projector resolution of 640x480 compared to samsung's 480x320. Expect it to be bulky and not quite durable bec. its chinese.

If you want the best performance and durability then go for samsung.

What edition should we call these phones?

Ultra Projector?

Ultra show?

Ultra see?

Ultra View?

What do you think?



Download Our iPhone App

Stay up to date on the latest news of the future of science and technology from your iPhone with full articles, images and offline viewing



Follow Us On Twitter

Featuring every article from the magazine and website, plus links from around the Web. Also see our PopSci DIY feed



Become a Fan On Facebook

Share links with friends, comment on stories and more


November 2009: Astronaut 3.0

Inside NASA's astronaut bootcamp and the grueling new training regimen for deep space. Plus, ten young geniuses shaking up science today, one writer's quest to analyze every man-made chemical in her body and more.

Check out the issue's full contents online here

Popular Science Photo Pool


Share your photos in the Pop Sci pool at www.flickr.com!
tags_sprite.png
POP_embeddedForm_cover_May09.jpg