Samsung

Some device concepts are wacky enough to try once. With the Samsung Galaxy Beam 2, the hardware giant puts its faith into built-in projectors a second time.

The sequel to the original Samsung Galaxy Beam updates Android to version 4.2, and shrugs off the original's bright yellow color and sporty aesthetic for a smooth, brushed-metallic look borrowed from the Samsung Galaxy S3.

The Beam 2's projection window retains its place at the top of the phone, swelling this area slightly, and from the looks of it this model increases the original Beam's projection resolution from 640x360 pixels to a 800x480-pixel resolution (WVGA). This would improve image quality, especially for movies and presentations beamed onto a surface from further away.

Other changes under the hood take in the more capacious 1.2GHz quad-core processor and microSD card slot, which can now accept up to 64GB in external storage. The camera stays put at 5 megapixels.

Physically, the Beam 2 is a tad larger than the Galaxy Beam, bumping up the screen size to 4.66 inches versus 4 inches. It also gets a battery boost, from 2,000mAh to 2,600mAh. That's a little more juice, but not enough to play back-to-back movies around the campfire without a couple of spare bricks.

So far, China Mobile is the only carrier we know of that's attached its name to the Beam 2 -- expect a limited release for such a niche device.