Samsung is taking the mobile phone market by storm as they were the market leaders in the US for the 3rd quarter 2008. The main ingredient for this electronic giants is to always produce, improve and have a strong financial and technological leadership in other electronic industries.
As predicted through my prophecy (heh), all mobile phone manufacturers have to adopt a touch screen, OS powered mobile phones to ensure they remain competitive. That is what Samsung is striving towards, and that could be the reason for their market leadership.
After a successful Windows Mobile powered - the Samsung Omnia, which introduces powerful applications, responsive screen and great design, now behold, as they unleash the Samsung SGH T919 or also known as Samsung Behold.
The Pros
The phone itself is a candy bar, slim and stylish finishing. It’s just 98 x 55 x 11.4 mm, and 100g in weight. It has 262k color supported for a crystal clear and crisp display through its 240 x 320 pixels and 2.8 inch screen. It is also very responsive to finger touches. It offers various type of connectivity like EDGE, GPRS and also HSDPA.
The best thing about this phone is it offers a 5.0 megapixel camera andable to capture videos which is also available in QVGA mode. It also comes with a bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP and supports push email, IMAP & POP3. Not only that the phone is fast but with T-Mobile 3G network, it certainly split the waves as it surfs through the net.
Just like the Samsung Omnia, it comes with samsung’s very own TouchWiz user interface, which allows for an extra level of personalization on your Home screen. On the left side of the display there is a bar with a series of “widgets” for applications like the clock, music player, photo gallery, calendar Bluetooth, Web browser, and notepad. By tapping the widgets, you get one-touch access to the corresponding feature. That’s handy by itself, but the TouchWiz goes a step further. If you slide certain widgets from the bar to the home screen, you can get a miniature view of that feature.
The Cons
No Wi-Fi. What??!! Somebody actually follows through the footsteps of HTC Touch that offers now Wi-Fi but only 3G network support. I’m not sure if the Samsung Behold is the mobile phone version of a net book - minimal, compact and only for some light online work and also browsefor quick info, but lack of wi-fi confims that its not.
Though samsung Behold supported memoery card expansion through sd card (whew!) but the slot is so uncoveniently located. This could due to saving up space for slick design, but it can definitely be improved. Not that its a big fuss anyway, but its hard for someone having a big finger like me sometimes to swap memory card.
They are also reports about the substandard browser performance and also the just average speaker quality for music playback.
Verdict
I believe the Samsung Behold is the trimmed version of Omnia for Samsung to get a wider market range as not many an afford Omnia. So, a trimmed down version of the Samsung Omnia while maintaining the essence of the phone is a tough job. Together with the specification ‘optimization’ so does the price. But I am not sure whether omiting the wi-fi capability is a good call as people prefers the faster, more stable LAN through wi-fi. For US$399 (unlocked) or US$199 with a 2-year contract, they are many other options available with better functions. That said, it is still a good, responsive phone with a potential of many applications installed, as it is Windows Mobile powered phone. Touch Whiz has also define how user interface and ease of use means and this is just what most users (especially chicks) needs.
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