Moviphone: Is that a projector in your pocket? Why yes it is

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Over the past year an trend is happening with midrange Android phones: They are becoming more niche targeting consumers with a feature that’s not designed for everyone. That’s the case with the Moviphone a midrange Android device with a built-in projector: No mods needed.

The company Wireless Mobi Solution (WMS) from San Diego introduced the Moviphone at CES 2018.

As the name so rudimentarily suggests, it’s all about movies. And what better way to watch a movie than projecting it onto a wall as big as you can? The 50-lumen projector supports a 720p HD image that can be projected up 100 inches in size.

Watch this: Moviphone looks like a OnePlus 5 with a built-in projector 1:25

The projector simply mirrors whatever is on the screen. If you’re watching Netflix or YouTube on the phone’s display, it’s projected. If you have a PowerPoint presentation or just want to show off some snaps, then they go up on the wall.

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The 720p HD projector can project an image up to a 100 inches big.Josh Miller/CNET

This isn’t the first phone with a built-in projector. Remember the Samsung Galaxy Beam from 2012? Motorola’s Z family of phones can have a projector added onto them via a magnetic Moto Mod. 

What’s exciting about the Moviphone is when the projector is off, you would never know the phone had one. Svelte, with a 5.5-inch display, it looks like a OnePlus 5 had a phone baby with a Motorola Z2 Play.

The Moviphone is unlocked and comes with 128GB of storage. It has a fingerprint reader on the back — conveniently located in the middle like a Google Pixel 2. It runs a stock version of Android Nougat and is available now for $599, which converts to about £445 or AU$765, from the WMS website. Part of the reason WMS is at CES is to connect with carriers and third-party retailers in hopes of having the Moviphone become more widely available.

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All the new phones at CES 201833 PHOTOS

We only had a quick look at the Moviphone, but look forward to testing one out more in-depth. 

WMS Moviphone specs

  • 5.5-inch, 1,920×1,080-pixel OLED display
  • Android Nougat 7.0
  • 1.5GHz octacore MediaTek processor
  • 128GB of storage
  • 4GB of RAM
  • 16-megapixel rear camera
  • 8-megapixel front-facing camera
  • 4,000mAh battery
  • USB-C
  • Fingerprint reader
  • NFC – Android Pay
  • Headphone jack