Yet another Android phone to consider.

The Samsung Behold II is the Samsung's second Android model to hit the U.S. market, and this one was manufactured specifically for T-Mobile. While other carriers are just beginning to bring their first or second Android-powered smartphones to market, the Behold II is T-Mobile USA's fourth Android phone.

Samsung calls this one the Behold II. I’m guessing that "II" is part of the name not only because it’s the second version of the original Behold, but also because of its two stand-out features: the AMOLED screen and the Samsung TouchWiz user interface.

The Hardware

The Behold II is a full touchscreen candy bar-shaped handset that sports an on-screen QWERTY keyboard in lieu of a physical keypad. It measures 4.6 by 2.2 by 0.5 inches and weighs 4.2 ounces. Inside is a full-blown Android smartphone with all the bells and whistles you would expect, including Google Search, Maps, Talk, Gmail and YouTube along with full SMS, MMS and IM support. It also features integrated GPS, stereo Bluetooth, visual voicemail, a 5-megapixel camera and plenty more.

The Behold II is a world phone that operates on T-Mobile’s GSM/GPRS/EDGE/3G networks here in the U.S. and GSM/GPRS/EDGE/HDPA networks just about everywhere else on the planet. In case some people out there weren't aware of the Behold II's global capabilities, it has a world map silk-screened on the back cover to stress the obvious.

A Definite Upgrade from the Original Behold

This second edition of Samsung's Behold line differs from the older Behold in a number of important ways. It has in-built Wi-Fi (something sorely lacking from the older design) and it runs on Android instead of Samsung's proprietary feature phone operating system.

Where storage is concerned, the Behold II comes with a 2GB microSD memory card (and accepts up to 16 GB cards thanks to microSDHC support). That’s a whole lot better than the measly 1GB card on the older model but considering what T-Mobile is charging for the phone, a decent amount of internal memory would have been appreciated -- the Behold II only has 200MB of internal storage.

The display is a 3.2-inch, 320 by 480 pixel, Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode (AMOLED) touchscreen. What the screen lacks in size (compared to the DROID, and some of the newer phones about to reach the marketplace) it makes up for in good looks. Simply put, the AMOLED screen is beautiful, has great viewing angles and it works well as a touchscreen.

AMOLED displays are also very bright and crisp compared to other panel types, so the Behold II's screen is just as visible in bright light as it is indoors. In an attempt to address the single biggest complaint where full touchscreen handsets are concerned, Samsung provides a bit of haptic feedback (the phone actually jiggles) when you press the screen. This helps provide tactile feedback of sorts, and while it hardly supplies the same sensation as depressing a physical button, it's better than nothing.

TouchWiz is Nice, but it's no Sense UI

Then there’s the TouchWiz interface. The Behold II home screen looks and acts like any other Android handset at most times -- until you get to the cube-shaped menu, the star of Samsung's UI. Contained within that 6-sided cube are visual links to some popular applications such as YouTube, Amazon’s MP3 store, the music playback app, the photo app and more.

The Behold II has its own dedicated hardware button with a little cube on it to make accessing the TouchWiz cube simple from any screen. It also makes it easy to avoid the cube for users who aren't impressed by the nifty 3D UI. The other hardware button worth mentioning is the lock/unlock screen button.

Samsung should have changed the location from the right side of the device to the front, or to a position on the top of the phone like most other handsets with a display lock. Obviously the display lock is used every time the handset is taken out of a pocket and just before it is put away as well. Bottom line, it’s very annoying to have to find the darn thing in its current unnatural position on the side of the phone.

A Solid Phone Made Infinitely Less Appealing by its Price Tag

As for price, the Behold II is on the high-end of the Android price scale. T-Mobile is asking $230 for the Behold II with a two-year contract. I think it’s going to be a very hard sell at that price, which is too bad because the Behold II would be a pretty good Android phone if sold at a reasonable price. Once the early adopter tax is done away with and the Behold II settles in around $150 or less, it's definitely worth your consideration.