Perhaps T-Mobile in the US thinks that if it is nice enough to Google it will offer to buy its troubled and loss making US operation, but whatever its motivation, T-Mobile USA has yet another Android phone ‘ the Samsung Behold II ‘ a name which promises a lot.
Out this week it is a full touch-screen multimedia smart phone with web browsing, wi-fi access and one of those low power, super clear 3.2 inch AMOLED screens. One day all screens will be like this and it offers exceptionally high color variation, deeper contrast ratios and wider viewing angles than any LCD screen, at about half the power usage.
The device is an exclusive with T-Mobile USA, and outdoes the iPhone with a top end 5 megapixel camera, which means that any video that it takes will look sharp on device and export to PCs with even more clarity.
The camera comes with autofocus, zoom, flash and can shoot video and of course the Samsung Touch Wiz interface, which now has an intuitive cube menu and top menu access to music, photos, videos, web browsing, YouTube and Amazon’s MP3 service.
The Behold II lets you switch between three different home screens so you can have one for home, one for work and maybe one for multimedia, and set them up yourself with widgets and shortcuts.
“With its first-rate multimedia capabilities front and center, the Samsung Behold II adds an exclamation point to T-Mobile’s already impressive Android lineup for the holidays,” said Wendy Pi’ero-DePencier, vice president, brand and calendar marketing, T-Mobile USA. “The combination of 3G speeds, its high-resolution touch-screen, and access to loads of entertainment features is sure to make the Behold II into a holiday hit.”
The Behold II is a real Google pleaser, with built-in Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube and Google Talk, plus access to Android Market. It also supports corporate e-mail with Exchange ActiveSync, as well as instant messaging. Like most top end smart phones it comes with A-GPS, Bluetooth 2.1, visual voicemail, support for up to 16GB of external memory, and includes a 2GB microSD memory card. The device will sell in the US for $230 with a two year contract.