Click here to find out more! Samsung Galaxy Beam pre-orders begin in UK

You love smartphones. You live in the UK. And you’re a martyr to the 20-pound projector that you constantly carry around in your backpack. Congratulations, you’re the perfect candidate for Samsung’s Galaxy Beam, with its integrate pico projector – and you can reserve your unit now. UK web retailer Clove has the Galaxy Beam up for pre-order for £369.00, £442.80 after taxes. That comes out to just over $700 USD. Ouch. The release date isn’t mentioned on Clove’s website.

For that considerable chunk of cash, you get a mid-range phone constructed around a tiny projector. The 15-lumen lamp is capable of projecting a 640×480 display up to 50 inches. The phone itself is a little uninspiring: Android 2.3 with TouchWiz runs on a 1Ghz Snapdragon processor. The 4-inch LCD screen is 800×480 (just a little more resolution than the projector is capable of displaying) and the internal memory is a roomy 8GB. Cameras are 5 megapixels on the back with 1.3 megapixels on the front, and the phone features an oversized 2000mAh battery for the projector.
While it’s not the slimmest or prettiest phone around, the Beam’s form follows its unique function. A manual projector button just out the side and focus controls get their own hardware buttons. Even so, it’s hard to think of someone who’d prefer an expensive mid-range phone with an integrated projector to a cheap pico projector with video going to it from an HDMI-enabled phone. For the limited amount of time you’d need this, does it really justify the cost? Samsung hasn’t said when it’ll bring the Galaxy Beam to the European or Asian markets, or if it’s coming to North America.

Samsung Galaxy Beam Goes Up for Pre-Order in the UK

We got a chance to see the Samsung Galaxy Beam during this years Mobile World Congress and now the 15-lumen  Android projector is available for pre-order in the UK. Although official pricing and availability have yet to be confirmed, you can get dibs on one of these bad boys for £442.80 including VAT ($590) from Clove UK. Based on a rumor we recently reported, the Galaxy beam is slated for release sometime next month.
The Galaxy Beam sports a 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, a 4-inch WVGA display, a 5MP camera, 2000mAh battery, Gingerbread 2.3 and of course– the projector rated at 15 lumen’s. Hit up the source link to get your pre-order on.

Samsung Opens Branded Store Inside London’s Phones 4U Store

Remember that mysterious Samsung display in the window of the Phones 4U flagship store in the UK? It read “Samsung” in big letters with “coming 30/03/12″ under it. Some believed that it was going to be the launch of the Galaxy S III, but we had our doubts, and eventually we learned that it would turn in to Samsung store within a store. Today being the day of its launch, the new Samsung store has opened its doors to the public and our pals from Endgadget stopped in for a closer look.
Taking over the whole second floor of London’s Oxford Street Phones 4U retail location, Samsung’s latest retail endeavor aims to compete with the Apple store located just around the corner. As you can see in the images below, Samsung has created a place for customers to go to try out all the newest flagship devices without all the carrier muddled nonsense. No ever-changing ads or contract pricing, just an unfiltered Samsung experience. They even have an accessory wall for all the latest official extras you can get for your new Galaxy device, and  apparently Samsung has trained the staff to be knowledgeable in everything Samsung. So if you live in the Oxford area you should stop by to check it out and let us know what you think! For the rest of you, jump past the break to experience the store via more photos.

Samsung I9300 M, the Eye-Tracking, Auto-Dialing, Face-Recognizing Mid-Range Phone of the Future?

Perhaps the most rumored Samsung device recently is the GT-I9300, which some believed to be the much anticipated Galaxy S III, but now is rumored to be the Samsung Galaxy M. Now, new information from sources of GSM Arena pegs the Galaxy M as a weird hybrid of mid-range specs coupled with stuff straight out of sci-fi.
Apparently, the device is rumored to have an eye-tracking feature that will keep the display turned on if it recognizes you are looking at it. It can also detect if you are lying down and adjust the screen rotation so the screen will stay level with your sight. Pretty cool stuff. I could see technology like this allowing for even more futuristic features, like a floating mouse cursor you control with your eyes… a sort of “visual Kinect” for your phone. Is this the first step toward the Android Brain Implant^TM?
More rumored features after the break.

Another feature the source mentions is auto-dial, which detects when you put the phone to your ear after reading a message and automatically dials the number of the sender of the message. Hmm, I guess that’s kinda cool.
Group photos will also receive an update that automatically recognizes the faces of your contacts in the picture and prompts you to email the photo to those people. That certainly seems like a useful feature provided you have good pictures of everyone in your contacts.
Lastly, the Samsung M might be able to monitor biometric functions like your heartbeat through hardware add-ons. One reason this feature seems plausible is that Samsung happens to be an official sponsor of the 2012 Summer Olympics. Marketing a phone with this feature during the Olympics kind of makes sense.
These types of features seem almost too progressive for a mid-tier device. I would expect Samsung would want to deck out their flagship with all the bells and whistles, not their middle-of-the-roader. I think I’m tasting that grain of salt. We’ll just have to wait on this one.

Contest: Win 1 of 6 Androidified Cases for the Galaxy Note!

I just reviewed the Androidified case from Cruzer Lite for the Samsung Galaxy Note and now it’s time to give a few away! We have a total of six Androidified cases in various colors for the Galaxy Note to give away to six lucky readers. All you need to do is visit our forums, AndroidForum.com, and tell me why you think you need a free Androidified case. Be creative and I will pick the six entries at random for the win. Contest ends on Wednesday, April 4th at 12:59 PM EST. Good luck!

Review: Cruzer Lite’s Androidified Case for the Galaxy Note

After being such a huge fan of Cruzer Lite’s Androidified cases for the Galaxy Nexus I figured it was about time to wrap the Galaxy Note in one as well. I have tried many upon many a case for my devices and find I always favor the fit and finish of the TPU case from Cruzerlite. Not only do they fit perfectly, they provide just enough protection to keep your investment safe all the while reppin’ your favorite OS’ mascot, Andy. As you can see below, the Androidified case is the perfect way to show your dying affection for Android. The Android logo is emblazoned on each Androidified case in a stylish way that makes the case stand out from the rest.
The case is made from a flexible TPU material and provides enough coverage to protect against drops and scratches. There is even a little lip around the screen that keeps the screen safe from scratches if you set the phone on its face. All ports are exposed allowing full functionality of the device and you can even slide out the S Pen with ease. The case even has a nice ridged texture along the sides to provide a better grip so you don’t drop you new toy. The Galaxy Note can take some time getting used to and its large size is often cumbersome. This case should help you from fumbling it to the ground.

Available in 12 colors, the A2 TPU case from Cruzer Lite is by far my favorite case available and it’s super affordable, too. You can get one of these cases from Cruzer Lite’s Amazon store for just under $10. Also check out the new artsy line of cases for the Galaxy Note and Galaxy Nexus called Personas of Andy. These are pretty awesome too! I’ve included a picture of the available designs below.

CyanogenMod 9, Galaxy Nexus 4.0.4 improvements [From the Forums]

We've blasted through a bunch of content this week and managed to get up a new Android Central podcast for you all. If you missed out on anything, this weekend would be a good time to get yourself caught up and hang out in the Android Central forums: