That whole Samsung/Behold II/Android 2.x drama we talked about yesterday just took a turn for the worst. Ya, Samsung pretty much hates you guys — you guys as in the one’s who picked up a Behold II with the belief Samsung was actually serious about supporting it longer than six months.
Unfortunately, speculation that Sammy was cuttin’ and runnin’ has been confirmed with an official tweet and forum reply to disgruntled end users stating the highest they’ll be able to upgrade is Android 1.6. Ouch. Step inside for the official replay their tweet is referring too…
You know a phone isn’t that great when it’s released with old, outdated software. Unfortunately, in the Android world the practice is all too common. What’s worse however is buying a phone with the aforementioned outdated software and promises of near future upgrades only to find out the opposite is true, that the company who swooned you with flashy advertising was lying and is unwilling to right their wrong.
Samsung has a problem…
- November 13, 2009 6:43 am
If you’re in the Market for an Android device, you’ve got quite the selection this holiday season. But if you’re a bleeding edge nerd who wants the top of the line, you really only have a couple choices. Sprint’s HTC Hero or Samsung Moment and Verizon’s Droid Eris or DROID Droid are really the top models for the time being. But another option is coming quick in the form of the Samsung Behold II. This new device from Samsung will be the first Android device to feature Samsung’s “TouchWiz” custom interface that among other things, allows nifty page flip actions resembling a spinning cube. The device had been rumored for quite some time at the $199 price point. Unfortunately Cnet has confirmed that it will be in fact a $229 price tag.
Now looking at the Android field right now, we have the DROID Droid, Sprint Hero, and Samsung Moment. In my mind, those are the three top of the line Android phones you can get. Besides the amazing AMOLED display on the Behold II, it’s a rather standard affair complete with outdated Android 1.5. Does it really compete with the other contenders mentioned above? Also a sticking point is the TouchWiz interface. I know this is purely subjective, but the Samsung notification bar mod looks terrible. It looks the same as every other low-end phone Samsung puts out. The flipping cube effect is a novel idea and does have me slightly envious. However according to Cnet’s review, such effects cause Android to run slower than “un-Touched” versions. And, Android can already be laggy at times in it’s native form. Adding more wait to the mix….?
With that in mind, do you really feel the $229 price tag is justified or is T-Mo reaching too high? Personally now that Android 2.0 is out (at least for one exclusive carrier), there’s no reason the latest devices shouldn’t ship with at least Android 1.6. The substandard software and only so-so nature of the UI seem like they’d more appropriately fit in around $159. Heck, Verizon’s DROID Eris is a much better phone and while it even packs 1.5 by default is much nicer and smoother running. Did T-Mobile drop the ball regarding pricing on this one?
What would you do?
Android Central
