Samsung Galaxy Beam flexes projection power

BARCELONA, Spain--We've talked for years about pico projectors in smartphones, and now at last we get our first glimpse at a phone that's making that detail front and center.

Earlier this morning, Samsung uploaded images on Google+ of the smartphone it's calling the Samsung Galaxy Beam. And later on the eve of Mobile World Congress here, we got our first demo.

The projection seemed high-quality when we saw it this afternoon in a dark room, thanks to the 15 lumens of brightness that it emits, but we'll spend more time with the device over the next few days.

While the projector can mirror anything on your phone screen, Samsung appears to be targeting the device more toward the younger set for sharing photos and videos than it is to the business set.

There's no official word yet on the when and where it will be released, or pricing of the unlocked, global version I saw today, but it is expected to land sometime during the second quarter. For more-detailed specifications and images, be sure to check out this Samsung Galaxy Beam photo tour.

Editors' note: Updated 8:10 a.m. PT with more details.