The Samsung Beam, a smartphone with a built-in projector, has made it from concept to reality at Mobile World Congress 2012, with the company announcing that it will be selling the device in the UK in the coming months.

We first spotted the Beam when it was barely more than an idea back in 2010, but now Pocket-lint has gone hands-on with the real thing.

The first major difference is that, this time, it actually looks like a phone rather than a boxy little pico projector. In fact, if you weren't looking closely, you could quite easily miss the beaming part altogether, so neatly is it tucked into the top edge.

Naturally, the phone is a touch fatter than the all-the-rage size zero, 4-inch screen plus Android smartphones of the day but, at 12.5mm thick, it's by no means unsightly or out of place in the modern era. Ultimately, once again, it simply passes as a normal phone, and one with a quite tasteful orange trim about the edges of the anodised, grey plastic chassis.

It only runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread, but that shouldn't be too much of an issue. If it is, then you're probably barking up the wrong handset. All the same, there's a 1GHz dual-core processor, 8GB of internal memory and a 2000mAh battery which kicks out enough juice to let you project at full blast for three hours straight.

You can shoot out video, photos, games or just whatever is on the screen at the time, all with the click of a dedicated projector button on the side of the phone. Double tap that same switch and the beam changes from landscape to portrait and, as far as focus is concerned, the volume rocker on the opposite edge is what does the trick. Very clever.

The beam itself manages a 15 lumens blast - enough to make a decent picture in a not wildly bright room - and will make a screen up to 50-inches on the diagonal, even if the resolution won't quite match that. It appears to be around 800 x 480 or thereabouts.

samsung beam pictures and hands on image 8

The Samsung Beam can handle all of your MPEG4, H.264, WMV, Xvid and DivX file types and even supports HSPA+ connectivity - rather handy for YouTube.

We'll let you know about price and release date when we hear but, with a little stand accessory that can point the thing up to the ceiling for watching movies in bed, we're definitely keen to get this one into the PL labs.