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(More customer reviews)Ok, I normally don't go this far when I do/don't like something. But there are some very frustrating things about this phone that I think a lot of people are failing to mention. Maybe the people that have given reviews thus far haven't had the phone for long, but I find it very hard to believe the fact that no one talks about technicalities of the phone. Also, I don't like the whole "--/5" stars thing, so I'm doing my own scoring system, and breaking it down--how a review should be.
PRICE--6/10
Ok, everyone knows that phones are cheap when you purchase a two year contract. But what about users who already have T-mobile and want a new phone? For you, the phone will probably cost about $368.00 plus tax. No, not $400, but T-mobile might tell you how you get a partial discount. What that might NOT tell you, however, is that the partial discount means you are agreeing to renew your contract for another two years. I don't think $368 plus tax is too bad of a deal, I'm willing to pay that. However, when two companis (T-mobile and Samsung) both have steep claims, I expect those claims to be met with likewise results. See more about what I mean as I review the rest of the phone.
LOOK AND FEEL--9/10
This is one of the greatest selling points of the phone. I really like the phone as soon as I picked it up, simply for it's look and feel. It's small, sleek, smooth, but has a very nice weigh that makes it seems like you're actually holding something that will last a while. It has a brushed metal backing that looks really nice, and it's a great fit in any pocket. I've been a Sidekick owner since the Sidekick 2, and the biggest reason I purchased a new phone was to have something smaller. I work in business as well, and a big chunky Sidekick doesn't look professional.
INTERFACE/NAVIGATION--6/10
This aspect of the phone is kind of on a fence. Overall, the interface is really cool, and super fun. However, when you NEED to send a text, when you REALLY need to access a web page, the phone can be extremely irritating. For a female with small fingers, or anyone with longer nails, perhaps this may not be an issue for you.
1) Despite the fact that you can enter text with either a vertical numeric pad (usually T9) OR a horizontal "full" touch/QWERTY key pad is a really good idea. Naturally, I choose the QWERTY over the numeric pad almost every time. But, there are some really, really annoying design flaws on the pad. Mostly, because the QWERTY is a touch, it's difficult to design it to be able to make shift+ options available. So, when you need to enter additional text, such as numbers, and different punctuations, you actually have to press a button in the corner of the phone, which selects an entirely different keypad of multiple characters; including, numbers 0-9, ",', etc... This can be really frustrating when you just want to enter something like the number "1"
2) The space bar is not centered on the QWERTY keypad. When trying to hit the space bar with your right thumb, you will hit the "?" character if you're not careful, often resulting in sentences?like?this.
3) When entering a password into a website block, you can only use the numeric keypad. This is REALLY frustrating to me, because this forces you to turn off the CAPS button, AND turn off the T9 if you want to use freestyle input. Most of my passwords do not begin with a capital letter, and none them can I use T9 on. If I could just use the QWERTY like with everything else, I would be happy.
Other than these few issues, navigation isn't too bad. The touch screen is actually pretty decent and responsive. However, those crucial flaws, when entering text, make me feel that the phone deserves no more than 6 out of 10.CALL QUALITY--10/10
This part is simple. All calls made were heard very well on both ends, and the speaker phone is very loud and works very well. I don't think it's fair to judge the phone based on network problems such as dropped calls, but I've had only one dropped call with the phone, which is pretty normal.
CAMERA/MEDIA--10/10
A pleasant surpise on the phone. Picture quality is very good, at least for a camera phone. Also, the phone features some really cool shooting and filming modes. My favorite, the panoramic, automatically shows you where to point the camera, and stiches 6 photos together to make a panoramic photo. Forwarding the phone through emails also worked very well.
Music and Videos--both internet and taken through your phone--are heard very well. No complaints here.
WEB BROWSING--2/10
This is single handedly the most frustrating and disappointing aspect of the phone.
Bottom line, the phone uses a 3G network, costs $400 retail, and the rate plan from T-mobile is $25 or $35 a month. For all that, I expected lightning fast internet, and FULL HTML BROWSING CAPABILITY, just like both T-mobile and Samsung claims the phone to have. Well, after using the phone for only 30 minutes, I noticed that something strange was going on with the browser. If I never had a phone that had to use mobile browsing (aka WAP) I wouldn't have recognized it so quickly. The phone kept automatically reverting my URL requests to mobile versions of almost every website I went to. If the browser didn't switch me to a WAP url, then it chopped the page up into a single column.
At first, I was calm, and thought that surely Samsung had already, or was going to come out with a firware update. My sidekick THREE could view real pages, OR mobile pages, whichever I wanted. Even though they're only on a 2G speed phone, c'mon!
Now, that's not the worst part. I was so certain that it be fixed easily. The phone had no settings to change this. So the first thing I do is call t-mobile and tell them the problem. It took longer to explain to them my complaint than it did for them to tell me their answer. Basicially, there's nothing they could do.
Over the next few days, I contacted Samsungs mobile support. Let me preface this by saying they are awful, awful, AWFUL. They were rude, impersonable, and didn't show the least bit of concern about my needs. Through four phone calls, I got the same bit of useless information each time. Apparently, Samsung has no current software updates, and do not plan on making any in the future. Yes you heard that right, and yes that came directly from Samsung Supervisors mouthes.
This really makes me mad. The phone is everything I want except for the mobile browser. I was willing to overlook all the little stuff because I like it so much. However, I can't afford the unlimited data rate, and recieve ancient services. Needless to say, if it weren't for this, I wouldn't have returned the phone.
BATTERY LIFE--3/10
The battery will not last more than 8 hours if you plan on playing games, or using the internet. I wake up at 6am every day, after charging for almost 12 hours, the battery will not last until I get off work, which is 6pm. Well, actually, the battery retains enough enery to actually make the phone work, but from about 3 till when I got home and plugged the phone in, the phone vibrates for a total of 10 seconds, about every 3 minutes. This is extremely annoying, can not be turned off, and wastes even more battery! Very bad design.
In total, this comes out to about 6.6 out of 10. Pair that with how much I dug into the phone, and I don't think that's a good score.
I hope this review is helpful.
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Samsung Behold t919 Phone, Brushed Espresso (T-Mobile)An advanced touch screen phone with premium multimedia features and full web browsing capabilities, the Samsung Behold phone also supports T-Mobile's HSDPA 3G network, which provides fast web downloads and multimedia messaging.
This touchscreen-enabled phone has a large, brightly colorful 3.1 inch screen, and it includes Samsung's intuitive and easily customizable TouchWiz user interface. And you'll enjoy high-resolution photos and videos thanks to the built-in 5-megapixel camera/camcorder with flash and autofocus. Other features include Bluetooth connectivity for both hands-free devices and stereo music streaming, microSD memory expansion (up to 16 GB), digital audio player and FM radio, access to personal e-mail and instant messaging, and up to 5 hours of talk time.
T-Mobile Service The Behold operates on GSM 850/900/1800/1900 networks and is compatible with T-Mobile's UMTS/HSDPA 3G network, which operates on the 1700/2100 MHz AWS spectrum. This phone is designed to automatically connect to the best available network (3G or GSM/GPRS/EDGE) to provide faster data speeds when accessing the Web or downloading content from the T-Mobile t-zones content portal. T-Mobile is currently rolling out its 3G network, and it expects by year's end that its high-speed data network will be available in those cities where a majority of its subscribers currently use data services.
In areas where the 3G network is not available, you'll continue to receive service on the via T-Mobile's EDGE network (which stands for "Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution"). This high-speed, mobile data and Internet access technology is fast enough to support a wide range of advanced data services (with average data speeds between 75-135Kbps), including full picture and video messaging, high-speed color Internet access, and e-mail on the go.
While this phone is optimized for use with T-Mobile's high-speed 3G network, many of its functions will also work well on the moderate-speed EDGE network. If you plan to access the Internet extensively on your phone, 3G network coverage may serve you best.
Activities that work well on EDGE or 3G networks:
Email, instant messaging, and texting
Downloading ringtones, CallerTunes, wallpaper, light data files
Sending photographs via e-mail or picture messaging
Activities that work best on a 3G network:
Viewing content-heavy websites (lots of images or videos playing)
Viewing YouTube and other video files (they will play on EDGE, but require loading time)
Uploading large files (photos, videos, presentations) to sharing websites
Downloading large files from an e-mail or a website
Download cool new games, HiFi Ringers (real songs by today's hottest artists), MegaTones (instrumental versions of songs), and wallpapers quickly, as well as stay connected via the Web, instant messaging, and e-mail.
Phone Features The slim Samsung Behold smartphone delivers impressive images on it large 3-inch LCD color display (240 x 400 pixels, 262K colors) and offers haptic responsive feedback that vibrates when you press a button. For easy operation and navigation, the stylish Behold features three dedicated keys--call, end call and back--on the front of the device under the touch screen. The Behold also provides quick and easy access to a customer's favorite features through Samsung's innovative TouchWiz user interface, which has specially designed widgets to customize and personalize your phone. The quick and simple drag-and-drop feature provides instant access to your favorite functions, such as the clock, music player, instant messaging and photos and a custom widget for myFaves.
The phone has a 180 MB internal memory, which can be expanded via optional microSD memory cards (up to 16 GB in size). The internal phonebook can store up to 2000 contact entries, each with multiple numbers per contact and support for caller groups as well as picture/ringer ID. You can download MP3 real-music and 72-chord polyphonic ringtones, and the phone also includes a vibrate function for when you need to keep things silent.
Handsfree communication is easy thanks to the integrated speakerphone. This phone also provides Bluetooth wireless connectivity (version 2.0), and includes profiles for communication headset, hands-free car kits, and file transfer. With the A2DP Bluetooth profile, you can stream your music to a pair of compatible Bluetooth stereo headphones.
The 5-megapixel autofocus camera produces crisply colorful still photos, and it features an LED flash, smile detection, shake reduction, multi-shot capabilities, brightness and white balance controls, spot metering function, and a self-timer. You can also share them with family and friends by sending them to any e-mail address, T-Mobile camera phone, or MyAlbum. The phone can also capture video clips up to QVGA resolution (320 x 240 pixels). The digital media player is compatible with MP3 and AAC/AAC+/eAAC+ audio formats and H.264/H.263/MPEG4 video formats.
Other features include:
Virtual, landscape QWERTY touchpad
Built-in A-GPS navigation allows access to location-based applications
Access to personal e-mail with document viewer for attachments
Instant messaging via AOL, ICQ, Windows Live, and Yahoo!
Organizer tools: Calendar, alarm, calculator
Sync contact with Outlook
USB connectivity with USB mass storage capabilities
Voice dialing: Call someone with simple voice commands to keep your hands free for activities like driving.
Bluetooth version 2.0 with the following profiles: A2DP (stereo music streaming), AVRC (remote control), HFP (hands-free car kits), HSP (communication headsets), BPP (basic printing profile for text, e-mail), FTP (file transfer), OPP (object push for business cards, calendar items, and pictures)
Vital Statistics The Samsung Behold weighs 3.9 ounces and measures 4.1 x 2.1 x 0.5 inches. Its 1000 mAh lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 5 hours of talk time, and up to 288 hours (12 days) of standby time. It runs on the 850/900/1800/1900 MHs GSM/GPRS/EDGE frequencies as well as 1700/2100 MHz UMTS/HSDPA 3G frequencies.
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