Source: Tom's Guide | Keywords: samsung, tmobile, behold | Themes: Smartphones
- 1. Who's the Target Audience?
- 2. Lame Browser, Killer Camera
- 3. Design Flaws and Good Sound
3. Design Flaws and Good Sound
The Behold might be a better choice than most for visual or hearing impaired people, or even simply people whose eyes and ears aren’t what they used to be. The tactile feedback reinforces visual cues. And the volume of this phone’s ringer! Well, it’s off the hook. In several years of reviewing cell phones, this is the loudest one I’ve come across. In fact, I couldn’t make the volume quiet enough (without turning off sound completely) to not embarrass me at the office.
Like all phones, the Behold does have a handful of gruesome design flaws. The most egregious is the fact that the SD card slot is hidden under the back panel and behind the battery—you have to remove these two items to get to it. This does not bode well for San Disk’s Slot Music format, which aims to sell music albums via interchangeable SD cards. There are lots of reasons why this design choice is very inconvenient.
Additionally, the Behold doesn’t have a headset jack in any recognizable size. That means you need Samsung’s (free) headset adapter. But what if you lose the adapter? Samsung should’ve simply included a normal jack—problem solved. Another minor hardware quibble: there are three buttons below the screen—green on the left, red on the right, and a center button. But the center button isn’t a home button, it’s a “back button.” This is extremely counter-intuitive. 
Battery life, sound quality and signal strength are above average on this phone. Talk time is rated at five hours, and seems to last far longer than the iPhone 3G. Wherever we went in the greater Los Angeles area, we picked up about three T-Mobile signal bars—plenty for clear conversation.
So, if you’re considering the Behold, decide whether or not you want to be “that guy”—the T-Mobile subscriber who doesn’t want to deal with too much Web browsing and e-mailing, but instead wants the cache of a touch screen phone that comes in two fashion colors (Espresso and Rose), blares loudly, and packs an above-average camera. You can pose for the camera in your poser smart-phone.
- Previous page Lame Browser, Killer Camera
- Next page Specifications
This handset doesn't have Windows Mobile, you even said that it's not a "real" smartphone. The Omnia is a smartphone, this is not.
Hey Nitrous,
Are you saying a phone has to have Windows Mobile to be considered a real smartphone in general?
Rachel Rosmarin, Editor, Tom's Guide
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This is a horribly written article from a journalistic standpoint. It's obviously heavily biased, the writing style does nothing but insult the product (Whether it deserves it or not), and the few positives about the product are written off as "it has this...buttttt.......".
Very unprofessional, hardly objective and if I got paid to write things like this I could slander just about any product up and down.
For the record I'm not saying the complaints about the phone are bad, by all means seeing pictures of where the SD card slot is makes me surprised, but they're just brought about poorly.
Yes, actually I am. A dumbphone like this is not nearly as flexible or customizable as a smartphone with a real OS. Sure, you can get a Voyager and use email on it for example, but it's not going to be as good as a Windows Mobile phone, Blackberry or iPhone. Plus a real smartphone can run applications instead of just little apps from the Get it Now store for example. The "iPhone killer" dumbphones like the Voyager and Instinct look really useful on the outside, but aren't going to be quite as versatile.
This is a horribly written article from a journalistic standpoint. It's obviously heavily biased, the writing style does nothing but insult the product (Whether it deserves it or not), and the few positives about the product are written off as "it has this...buttttt.......".Very unprofessional, hardly objective and if I got paid to write things like this I could slander just about any product up and down.For the record I'm not saying the complaints about the phone are bad, by all means seeing pictures of where the SD card slot is makes me surprised, but they're just brought about poorly.
Claimintru,
I appreciate that you noticed the different style of this article, even if you didn't like it. I experimented with a shorter review style, and used a more casual tone. I would argue that the article is not biased, since as a reviewer I look at many phones and offer my opinion on their merits. My objective with this review was to try to determine who would buy it (whose needs does it meet?). I came away thinking that there are not many people for whom this phone would be ideal. Also, I don't think it is technically possible to slander a cell phone
Thanks for reading,
Rachel Rosmarin, Editor of Tom's Guide
I've yet to see or use a phone that makes me want to trade in my XV6700.
Except maybe the XV6800.
first of all , this phone is for people switching from a regular cell phone to a better interface. second, t-mobile does not require you to join a 40$ a month data plan. you can simply get a regular plan and pay just phone charge and use the calander, music player, games etc...just no email and internet. (that's 2000$ of saving compare to iphone)..if you want the extra internet , you can get a $24 3G data plan...way cheaper than ATT and verizon.
the phone is small...it rings loud and call quality and reception is good. (unlike iphone...my reception is really bad)...it does well on it's primary function...a phone.
As for browser..yes, all samsung phones use the same crappy browser that slows down the 3G connetion. (I had samsung instinct on sprint and it's the same bad browser on a fast network...GPS downloads quick on that phone...so it's the browser problem).
however, you can download a third party browser to use on this phone...your experience will be much better...
screen is small ...not as good as iphone but you get a small phone to carry around.
my wife has this phone and after comparing with my iphone, I think it's as good as it get for this price range and without the killer
contract price with ATT or Verison.