The Moviphone is mid-range Android phone with a built-in laser projector (Updated)

Update (07/06/18): You can now pick up the Moviphone from Indiegogo for $599.

The good news is that this is not a crowdfunding campaign. The phone ships within three to five days and is compatible with major U.S. carriers, though the listing did not specify which carriers.

Original article: CES is not only home to the major Android players like Google, Samsung, HUAWEI etc, but also smaller talent. Manufacturers such as Wireless Mobi Solution, for example, whose recent Android phone is more than worth a look.

From the outside, it’s a decent-looking midrange handset. It packs a 5.5-inch, 1080p display with octa-core MediaTek MT6750V chip, 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage space. It also packs a 13 MP rear camera, 8 MP front camera, 4,000 mAh battery and runs Android Nougat, but you’d be forgiven for thinking that it seemed a little pricey at $599. There’s an ace up the Moviphone’s sleeve, however, and the clue’s in the name.

The device includes a 50-lumen laser projector that supports 720p resolution at up to 100 inches, with an 80,000:1 contrast ratio. This can be used to display whatever is on the smartphone, be it a film, app, games, picture, or just the home screen.

Smartphone-based projectors aren’t a new idea: you may recall a Moto Mod that adds this functionality to Moto Z devices (it’s currently on sale for $224.99, if you’re interested), or the Samsung Galaxy Beam, which has a projector built in. These haven’t really caught on, despite that it seems like a sensible marriage of ideas; phones are devices often used for media consumption, but because they must be portable, a small display is compulsory.

Expanding this area of display — in this case, via a projector — is a solution to a very broad problem. So, does this mean that the Moviphone will succeed where others have failed?

As far as I can tell, probably not. The Moviphone doesn’t do anything different to previous attempts at this: it’s essentially a more recent, more powerful Galaxy Beam. If the idea already really appeals to you, then great, you’ve now got it on a modern Android phone with features like a fingerprint scanner, 1080p display, and USB Type-C. If it hasn’t appealed to you in the past, the Moviphone might not bring enough fresh ideas to the table, or be priced effectively enough, to sway you.

You can order the Moviphone now from the manufacturer’s website, though the lead time on the company’s shipping page suggests it could take up to six weeks to reach you.