I wasn’t really expecting the original Behold to have a successor. Sure, it was a good phone in its own right, as far as basic touchscreen phones go, but it wasn’t anything worth writing home about. But, here we are, facing the presence of a brand new Android device hitting the market, and very soon. The Behold II is the first phone to marry Samsung’s TouchWiz UI, and the Android OS, into a phone that doesn’t necessarily attract the eye, but at least doesn’t look all that “run-of-the-mill”, either.
Specs-wise, we’ve got a pretty standard 3.2-inch screen, but with Samsung’s AMOLED technology, giving some brilliant colors and contrast to the touchscreen device. The camera is of the 5-mega-pixel variety, and as was mentioned before comes stock with TouchWiz. One of the benefits to TouchWiz 2.0 was the three customizable panels, but obviously with Android that’s what we’d expect, so no surprise there. It also has a navigational cube, which brings a fully 3D interface to access several multimedia functions, like YouTube, Music, and the web browser. Out of the box, the Behold II will also give you 3G speeds, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1, GPS, and up to 16GB of MicroSD storage.
Truth be told, while I do like TouchWiz, I’m not so sure that it’s the right fit for Android. Standard features, like 3 customizable screens, are brand new features to the TouchWiz User Interface, and so you kind of lose that element of “what’s new?” But what do you think? Is this the phone you’ve been waiting for? Or is that price tag a bit too much? Let us know in the comments.
[via @GoogleAndroid from Twitter, linked to Tmo News]
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November 13th, 2009 at 11:19 am
Tried it out today. Hardware felt VERY nice. Also, Samsung improved on the on-screen keyboard very well, it is a much better keyboard experience than stock Android. Compared to Better Keyboard from the Market, and HTC's own keyboard on the Hero, I like the Samsung keyboard the most. Also the haptic feedback from the vibrate feels more natural. I think I like the overall device better than the MyTouch.
Especially nice was the camera, it supports MANY options not present in the stock Android camera, Samsung did a great job there. Took a nice panoramic photo with it, it stitches it together AUTOMAGICALLY and it even snaps the pieces automatically, you just turn slowly and it does all the work.
Misses on the phone – the cube is pointless IMHO and a waste of a hardware key. The QuickList didn't appear to be customisable, which is a shame because it would be more useful if it was – I could be wrong on this. The Cube itself is NOT customisable, which is even more of a shame, since Samsung dedicated a HARDWARE KEY to loading the cube. I would hope the phone gets rooted soon so enterprising individuals could give the Cube button a different function.
I didn't see any real LACK other than having OS 1.5 instead of 1.6 or 2.0. Also, memory could have been a little better. I could be happy with this phone, however, given an OS update, which is supposed to be available "soonish" from what I was told.
Notably missing, if you're upgrading from the original Behold (which shares not much more than a name with this one) is UMA mode. I was hoping since the original was a UMA device, that this would be as well, but so far we don't have a UMA Android device. Limitation of the OS maybe? Or perhaps proprietary technology that can't be integrated due to the open source nature of Android?
I give this phone a strong B+ or a reserved A-.
November 13th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
Great Review! It is acctually going to help my decision. Thank you Alvin
November 13th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Wow…what possible reason could there be for anyone to choose this over the Droid? Or the G1, for that matter? You can grab a G1, with the same processor, for $50 now, and root it with CGM to get decent performance. And if you're a careful shopper, you can grab a Droid for $100 (that's what I paid for mine). $230 for this? For the difference, you could just about pay the early termination fee to get out from under T-Mo's thumb.
November 13th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
@Alvin Great job on the quick review. And Davest, while I agree that the phone is a bit pricey, T-Mobile does offer the payment plan (which, I'm not sure anyone would really want to do). But, more than that, the Samsung Behold II does have some features that are great. Like that OLED screen. Sure, the Cube may be gimmicky, but it's a cool idea.
November 24th, 2009 at 1:49 am
I ordered mine today so hope to get started within the next few days. Can't wait to take a crack at the Samsung Behold II. From what I read on http://www.Behold-Android.com, The Behold II include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, GPS, a 5-megapixel camera, and up 16GB expandable memory via the microSD slot. Samsung stated that the smartphone follows on the success of its Samsung Behold and takes it to the next level with the addition of Android, bringing support for Google services and Exchange ActiveSync.