2. Lame Browser, Killer Camera

Maybe he’s the kind of guy who thinks a “real” smart phone would be too much for him to handle: the Behold doesn’t seem to be able to a do the POP or IMAP standards on its mail program, and the WAP-based Web browser doesn’t load full HTML pages. That makes all the juicy 3G signal seem like a bit of a waste on this handset. There’s also no Wi-Fi on the phone, but with a browser that’s less than fun to use, what good would Wi-Fi be? I suppose these shortcomings could be a draw to someone wary of true Internet and e-mail access on a phone. The G1 might seem intimidating to this guy, while the Behold might be just his speed. It’s a quasi-smart phone.

The Behold does have a killer camera. At five megapixels, with a flash and the ability to focus, choose resolution, correct color and contrast or add effects, it stands out above just about every other camera phone on the market. But, let’s be frank—it’s slow to shoot (about three seconds for every picture), and, well, you see some of the pictures taken by the Behold below. Sure, they’re decent (and far better than most camera phone images), but still can’t come near the quality of your point-and-shoot Canon PowerShot. The person who buys the Behold will convince himself that his cam-phone shots will be stunning (they won’t be). Even so, the camera does capture Youtube-quality video—and that’s more than you can say for the iPhone (no video at all).

The Behold-buyer won’t fancy himself a touch-screen aficionado. If he did, he’d obviously prefer the iPhone, with its multi-touch capabilities. He’s not a keyboard nut either, or he’d choose the G1 (which has a touch screen and a keyboard), or a Blackberry (no smart phone can compete when it comes to watching the speed with which a Blackberry-lover bangs out an e-mail message). That said, the Behold’s screen offers a few nice touches. There’s tactile feedback, for one. That means when an on-screen button is clicked, the phone not only creates a visual representation of the click (the iPhone does this), but gives off a little buzz at the point of finger contact with the screen. It is reassuring, and let’s you know you’ve made something happen.

There’s also Samsung’s TouchWiz interface which sits on top of the bloated and buggy Windows Mobile. Its an improvement over Windows Mobile, and allows for a widgetized “desktop” on the phone screen (you can drag and drop “apps” like a gallery of your photos, or your “fave five” onto the home screen. Cute.). Also, the screen rotates to wide-screen QWERTY keyboard during browsing and e-mailing. Finally, the touch-keyboard lets you switch between full QWERTY and T9 predictive text. For the text-happy schoolboys and girls who buy this phone as an upgrade, and aren’t used to this whole full-keyboard concept, the familiar T9 will make them feel at home.