Samsung Behold II hits T-Mobile on November 18th, unboxed today (now with video!)
By Paul Miller 
posted November 12th 2009 7:47PM
posted November 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 don't want custom UI, I'd like 2.0..and the dedicated (cube) button seems useless.
And again a Android phone without Android market app?
@(Unverified)
Are you serious? The main image for this article has a screenshot with an Android Market icon on it. Why would you think the Market isn't included? Or, for that matter, where did you get the idea that there are other Android phones out there without the Android market? That's a universal feature outside of a few unlicensed media tablets.
sure is tough to find good specs on this thing. best i could find was that it has 128mb ram. surely thats not right though, the G1 AND MT3g have 192 and that amount makes them obsolete already. anyone know the real ram for this thing?
Samsung Behold II looks more attractive as compare to HTC HD2, so i better wait for Behold II before make my move towards shift from iPhone. Bhehold II screen resolution and features looks more attractive then iPhone and best thing is it comes with Android 1.5, only worry is to check weather Android1.5 support skype, vopium, facebook and twitter apps or not?
with the exception of the OLED screen this phone is just an average android phone like most of the others. No thank you I'll pass perhaps the Experia X10 will be better
Samsung makes sexy, solid hardware, but the way they've modded my beloved android os is a bit silly. You saw the difficulty our friend here had just trying to hit play on the Music widget because of the strange App drawer placement. I'll stick with my mytouch 3G, even though it's slooooow. :)
Hey hassan...this is NOT a free ad page or a billboard! Go advertise someplace else so we can exchange ideas on the phone being reviewed instead of having to scroll through your shameless flea market!
If this phone was free on a 2yr plan i still would pass up this phone, Google what are you doing, 2.0 for every device from this point on
@Terrillo
Google didn't make it.
n900 has also this half press button but of course engadget bloggers dont give a damn about it since its nokia.
@Mr w00t
The freaking G1 had a dedicated camera button with half-press, too. This isn't new to Android at all.
Why does the MyTouch feel like a toy? I've used a lot of smartphones and I thought the MyTouch was among the most beautiful and solid feeling phones I've ever had. It's got a perfect form factor and there's nothing cheap feeling about its construction, plus it manages to be surprisingly light and easy to carry.
Android finaly gets a phone that matches its OS looks with its Hardware ascetics! Both incredibly ugly and dated. Plus, my moms old dumb phone has a half press shutter button.
Worst part is, I own an android device.
Flame on...