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Knights of Pen and Paper gets a +1 edition, courtesy of Paradox Interactive
I've written here about Knights of Pen and Paper before -- it's a really great little role-playing game that portrays not just a party of fantasy adventurers fighting monsters, but the actual tabletop players behind those characters. It turns out I'm not the only one that really enjoys Knights of Pen and Paper, because Swedish publisher Paradox Interactive has picked up the game (which is developed by a company from Brazil named Behold Studios), and re-publishing it as Knights of Pen and Paper: +1 Edition. The new version of the game will play essentially like the old version, though a rep from Behold told us at GDC this week that it will have lots more of everything: more monsters, more skills, more dungeons and towns, and more quests, encounters, and everything else. There will be some new systems in the game as well, including a dungeon system where you can delve into a series of rooms trying to find a key and reaching random encounters, and a tavern system, which will allow you to change out new characters at the table right in the middle of your adventure. There's also a new equipment system, which will allow for things like elemental damage, so you might be able to build a mage with fire damage, or protect against specific types of attacks. The new version of game looks great, and besides a release on iOS, Paradox is also helping Behold to bring the game to other platforms, too. It's releasing on iOS as the new version, but also the PC, Mac and Linux on Steam, and on the Android platform as well. Behold says that Paradox has been a great partner for them, and they've even got proof: When both the Behold and Paradox teams sat down separately to make lists of suggestions for the game's new version, it turned out that a lot of the ideas from both teams were exactly the same, so that shows they're very much on the same page. I think the partnership should be great for both parties -- this is a great game already, and Paradox is helping to make it even better. Knights of Pen and Paper: +1 Edition is due out sometime later on this summer.
Samsung Behold II review
It was but a year ago that Samsung graced us with the original Behold. At the time it was more or less positioned to win the hearts of folks who wanted a luscious touchscreen but had no real truck with smartphones. So what do we have here? With the Behold II, the company has switched things up a bit: instead of a respectable feature phone, you not only get Android 1.5, but a 3.5mm headphone jack and WiFi as well. At least this shows that Sammy has been paying attention! Still, a couple questions come to mind: how does this one compare to the original? And how does it stack up as a Google Android device? Engadget has put her through the paces and our findings are sure to shock or surprise you (or maybe not). Continue reading below.
Samsung Behold II hits T-Mobile on November 18th, unboxed today (now with video!)
Dubbing itself the "multimedia powerhouse" for T-Mobile's expansive Android lineup, the Samsung Behold II has just been confirmed for that rumored November 18th launch on T-Mobile (still no word on price, though we're hearing a predictable $200). The slate-style touchscreen handset has a 3.2-inch AMOLED display, and puts it to good use with a hearty skinning job on the part of Samsung, porting in most (but not all) of its TouchWiz UI -- unfortunately for us, that silly cube menu made the cut. Underneath is Android 1.5, and what seems to be a pretty standard processor. 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!
Blurry pics of T-Mobile branded Samsung "Memoir" cameraphone emerge
We love nothing better than a good blurry photo around here to add a little dose of vague confusion to the rumor mill. These two artistically hazy snaps are purported to be of a US-bound T-Mobile Samsung Behold-style phone with an 8-megapixel camera. Tmo News is also reporting that it's going to run on Touchwiz, the same UI as the Behold, and that it's called the Memoir. We don't have any other details for now, but we'll let you know as soon as we see a fuzzy scan of a semi-redacted press release.
Samsung Behold gets reviewed, deemed "worth considering"
Now that Samsung's TouchWiz-enabled Behold is available for the taking on T-Mobile, wouldn't you like to know if it's the handset for you? The phone seemed positioned to be the carrier's entertainment mobile for folks not ready to make the G1 leap, boasting a 3G radio, expansive touchscreen and a 5MP camera. In testing, phonescoop found the handset to be a dash of good and a dash of bad, with the UI being deemed "decent, but not great," the camera quality to be less than awesome and the music player "capable" enough (despite the omission of a 2.5 / 3.5-millimeter headphone jack). In sum, critics determined that the Behold was worth considering if you're "in the market for a touch device that has a better-than-average feature set," but don't expect it to blow your mind or anything.
Samsung's winter lineup for the US gets dolled up for the camera
We know about most of these handsets, but it's always fun to get a few final views before they're officially announced and made available, isn't it? phoneArena has what must be the complete (or close to it) lineup from Samsung for the US market in the next few months all in one place, showing the a777 and a867 Eternity for AT&T, the Behold for T-Mobile, and the i770 Saga, i910 Omnia, and u810 Reknown for Verizon. New here is the R600 Hue II for Alltel, a boring-ass little flip that should be available in a handful of colors. There are a couple goodies in here -- the a867, i770, and i910 should all get some blood flowing, depending on how you roll. Which one's your favorite?
T-Mobile officially announces Samsung Behold and Gravity
The long-rumored Samsung T919 Behold has finally broken cover in an official capacity for T-Mobile, offering a full-featured touchscreen handset (that isn't the G1) to take advantage of that cute little AWS 3G network they've been cooking up. Besides TouchWiz, features include a 5-megapixel cam with video capability, full HTML web browser (we should certainly hope so), and haptic feedback; look for it to launch on November 10 in your choice of two colors for $149.99 on contract, including the rather lovely "light rose." Next up, we have the Samsung Gravity -- T-Mobile's answer to the endless barrage of low-cost QWERTY texters coming from every other network -- featuring a candybar form that conceals a full keyboard on a side slide. It drops by a week later, November 17 for $49.99 on a two-year plan, in "lime" and "aqua." We think we know which one we'd rather have.
Samsung Behold tracking for November 10 launch on T-Mobile?
TmoNews is claiming that the TouchWiz-enabled Samsung Behold is scheduled for a November 10 launch on T-Mobile, and by golly, with the lookalike Delve now out and about, we hope they're right. Notable (read: awesome) features on the Behold allegedly include user-adjustable touch sensitivity, a 5-megapixel cam, GPS, and -- unlike that ZN5 that just launched -- 3G data. That's an especially good thing considering the full HTML browser and a disappointing dearth of WiFi, we reckon. It's no smartphone, but for the T-Mobile types looking for just a little (okay, a lot) more style than the G1's putting up, this might just be what the doctor ordered.
