Samsung Behold II hits T-Mobile on November 18th, unboxed today (now with video!)
By Paul Miller 
posted Nov 12th 2009 7:47PM
posted Nov 12th 2009 7:47PM
Hardware-wise there's really nothing to complain about on this phone. It's heavy, relatively thin (not iPhone-thin, but just fine), with solid materials and wonderfully tactile face buttons. The screen is everything you'd expect out of an AMOLED display, though high-resolution phones like the Droid dampen that enthusiasm somewhat. One wonderful Samsung addition to the traditional Android experience is a "real" camera button on the side, which can even register half-presses for focus. For someone who doesn't want a physical keyboard, but doesn't want their handset to feel like a toy (sorry, myTouch) there's plenty to love. However, we're more concerned about the software side of things. We're not morally opposed to Samsung adding in TouchWiz, but we are afraid of anything that has the potential to slow down the OS, and on first glance we'd say it's notably less responsive than stock Android. We'll of course be going further in-depth to see just how usable this iteration is, but let us just put this out on the table: a virtual 3D cube to launch media apps is no way "intuitive," "helpful" or "cool." OK, maybe it's kind of cool, but seriously Samsung, stop it. Check out our unboxing below.
Update: We added some video after the break. Behold the cube!
I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOREVER FOR THIS!!!!!
I have loved you since before I was born.
Beyond time, beyond the reaches of space, I have yearned and hungered for you.
My darling.
My only wish. Be with me always. Till DEATH rips us asunder.
My Samsung Android handset.
I have loved you since before I was born.
Beyond time, beyond the reaches of space, I have yearned and hungered for you.
My darling.
My only wish. Be with me always. Till DEATH rips us asunder.
My Samsung Android handset.
That was so good I had to read it twice.
You've been waiting forever for a cameraphone that can record 352x288 video?... That's the best this phone can do, unfortunately.
that was gay
That was so bad, but I also had to read it twice.
wow. that makes android look like symbian for a featurephone.
seriously Samsung's skin sucks. Nothing compared to HTC Sense or even stock android 2.0
can we all just finally agree that touch wiz is a huge piece of crap? Samsung phones are still high quality and I'm sure the camera software on this thing is top notch. But I totally agree it looks and operates like a symbian feature phone. Useless tools and feature phone menus. I mean you pay for a smartphone and you get this? The Euro Galaxy version looked better but I'd rather have Motoblur than this skin
wow another andriod on t-mobile. come on sprint take note
Sprint got 2 Android phones within the last month or so. The Samsung Moment and the HTC Hero. Take note tomblaze05.
p.s. I apologize if you meant andriod and not android
T-mobile has been consistently coming out with Android phones, but I still feel like this isn't the one for me. Thankfully though, they are coming out frequently enough its realistic to wait for the next one
AndrewNoNumbers you win the internetz lol...
Wiz on it with my pre..
i'll wiz on you with my schlong
@ EI8HT
that's what she said
MyTouch makes you Wiz?
This is a decent phone. But Samsung is suffering from UI glut with this phone. TouchWiz is fine, but it's not needed for an Andriod device. I like that they added 'static' controls at the bottom of the screen but why in the heck did they include the cube interface which is more inefficient than the stock Andriod's multi screen scrolling. They have alot of work to catch up to the likes of HTC.
yeah, basically a Galaxy with the touchWiz.
They should have kept it with plain Android 1.6.
But hey it's android, all you need to do is root it for 1.6 and maybe pop on a SenseUI if that works--then we're talking a pretty good phone.
i'd like to see the sholes on tmobile...
$229 (too much)
TMobile: The island of mediocre toys.
It looks cheap and it is very overpriced.
Cheap as well as overpriced? Well, I would buy a 'cheap' phone which is 'overpriced' as long as my service provider treats me like a human-being.
For engadget,
"a virtual 3D cube to launch media apps is no way "intuitive," "helpful" or "cool." OK, maybe it's kind of cool, but seriously Samsung, stop it. " - yeah, as long as its not Apple, it's not 'cool', 'helpful' or 'intuitive', you know!
this phone seems like a dumbphone...android 1.5....I thought they could do better!!!! Cant wait for Sony Xperia 10 hopefully with android 2.0 on tmobile...Im giving this phone a pass....
Is this the so called Samsung Galaxy?
Hey SE, where's the X10?
yea, seriously. can someone clear this up. is the Samsung i7500 galaxy coming to america?
The Galaxy doesn't have the TouchWiz interface. I don't know the specifications, but I hope it's faster and has more ram than the galaxy
Ugly and plain....
If it at least had Android 1.6, it'd be acceptable... 1.5 is too slow. Donut was a big difference in performance from Cupcake on my G1.
Good news is that it's already been rooted, so some good dev can come from this. It'll be running 1.6 cyanogen in no time.
Plus, someone's going to think to remap that cube key to whatever else they want. That'll be a neat feature.
I probably will too.... but I wonder, if you root and install a different rom, can you make the dedicated cube button do something else?
Paul, the cube can't be deactivated?
1.5? Why not at least 1.6? And a new phone without Android 2.0 is just silly.
I've used my allotment of decimals for the day so I can't speak further on it.
The good news is that Android 2.0 will come out for this
http://www.tmonews.com/2009/11/behold-2-shipping-with-android-1-5/
I'm just slightly disappointed. It will be getting 2.0. And with the dev community, even if I don't like the Samsung customizations (i do like the side-loading app drawer), I can always just get a new rom.
I hate when companies do stupid features like that 3D cube. It's just one more thing that is unnecessary.
The G1 had a camera button, with a half press for focus.
Another Android phone with a confusing UI.
lol@SprintAdThatShowedUp when I was watching this.
lol@ads
Adblock plus.
good looking hardware.. great platform..shit looking cluttered samsung touchwiz ui.
I think the OS as customized by Sammy looks like garbage. It's a merger of Android, which has its own style, and TouchWiz, which has no style. You put them together and you have a nice looking device with not so good looking phone. For example the drawer sliding from the left...and the mini player having its own standard widget size just doesn't fit right. I think this phone will call for a FAST makeover by XDA or Cyanogen. Then it will be perfect.
Lame. They removed the 800mhz proc and the keyboard... why would those things be used on one carrier and not another? Samsung, if this is your concept of offering quality, relevant products.. your BADA's gonna suck balls too.
Samsung's official Behold II walkthrough videos :
http://www.mobiletechworld.com/2009/11/09/samsung-behold-ii-official-videos-cupcake-on-board/
Baya this device looks ok.....should i go for this brick or the my touch..?
The phone looks great but I hate the animations hopefully it can be mod'd
ok no offense engadget but what the f**k, your posting this and you have had the HD2 for like 2 weeks, kudos to samsung but come on please post something resembling a review on the HD2
So... How long 'til the teardown?
;)
Can someone clear something up about this phone. I have read on gsmarena.com and other places that this phone only has A-GPS and not an actual chip. Can someone confirm that it doesn't have a GPS chip in it.
I have read in a few different places that this phone only comes with A-GPS meaning their is no chip. Can anyone confirm that? It seems like a dumb decision if they did leave it out because it has a ton of features, it would seem moronic to leave out one of the final pieces that really make it a great phone.