Author: DarkKnightH20

This article is aimed at T-Mobile users mainly, but the information here can be applied to many of the phone variations that each cellular service provider offers. We’ll be reviewing and comparing the following touch screen smartphones: Samsung Behold II, HTC MyTouch 3G, and HTC G1. This is a basic review / comparison and therefore will not be too long.

Samsung Behold II
Samsung has been pumping out phones lately. How does this one fair?

Samsung Behold II Specifications

Processor: ARM11, 528 MHz

Operating System: Google Android 1.6

RAM: 256 MiB

ROM: 512 MiB

Display: AM-OLED 3.2″, Resolution: 320×480, 16M AMOLED

Dimensions: 4.57” x 2.2” x 0.48”

Active area: 1.77” X 2.66”

Weight: 4.20 ounces (standard battery)

Battery: 1500mAh Li-Ion standard battery)

Talk Time: 6 hours (standard battery)

Standby Time: 400 hours (standard battery)

Navigation: 3D Cube Navigation Menu

Camera: 5.0 Megapixel Camera and Camcorder with Auto Focus, Flash and 8x zoom

Web Browser: Full HTML Web Browser

One-touch access to Android Market™ and Google Search™

Google Search by Voice

Virtual QWERTY Keyboard

Corporate Email along with multiple messaging options

WiFi

Visual Voicemail

Multiple Messaging Options: Text Messaging, Picture Messaging, Video Messaging, Corporate Email, IM, Audio PostcardSM, XT9® Predictive Text

Accelerometer

Proximity Sensor

Bluetooth® Wireless Technology

Sponsored:

Processor, Storage, RAM
The T-Mobile Samsung Behold II is a pretty good phone. It uses an ARM11 processor rated at 528MHZ, unlike the Samsung Moment, which is rated at 800MHZ. Why Samsung didn’t use a 800MHZ processor on this phone…I do not know. A bit more speed would have been nice. The phone comes with 512MB of memory and includes 256mb RAM. Like most smartphones, it comes with a microSD expansion slot. Included is a 2gb microSD card so that you can download apps, put music on the phone, etc. The microSD slot supports up to 16gb (SDHC).

Screen
The screen on the Samsung Behold II is nice and vivid. It has a 3.2″ OLED Touch Screen with 320×480 resolution (average). The OLED screen really adds extra beauty to this phone. Without it, it would be hard for me to recommend this phone over alternate smartphones available by T-Mobile.

Android 1.6
This phone is an Android phone. It comes with Android version 1.6, but will be upgradeable to Android 2.0. This will be a crucial upgrade for many, as a lot of nifty features are added. Android is famous for having many free, downloadable apps available. Be sure to make the most out of this phone by checking them out! You won’t get the full power of your Samsung Behold II until this upgrade occurs.

Camera
The Samsung Behold II has a 5MP camera with zoom AND flash capabilities. Zooming only goes so far though before it begins to blur and, as to be expected from majority of phone cameras, the pictures are not the best. Don’t get me wrong though, it gets the job done and with a 5 megapixel resolution and flash, you can still take decent pictures with a bit of patients.

Charging Port
One thing that bothered me and many others about the Samsung Behold II, was the charging port. For some reason…it is located on top. Though it doesn’t seem like a problem, and majority of the time is not, it makes it difficult to talk on the phone while charging it. 99% of the time this will not be an issue, but it’s something worth mentioning. Also, this phone does not use a mini USB connection…Grr! That means that if you already had accessories that used a mini USB they’ll be of no use.

Misc
Thankfully, it comes with Wifi. The wifi works as well as majority of the smartphones out there right now. This is an Android phone so surfing the internet is generally easy and fast. The Samsung Behold II comes with a 3.5mm audio jack, which is nifty. This means you can easily connect headphones or connect your phone up to your car / speakers. One thing worth mentioning is that this phone uses Touchwiz by Samsung. It sports redundant menus because of this, but the interface is still sexy. It uses a 3D cube, which seems to be a popular way of navigating phones now adays. This also uses a virtual, on-screen keyboard. Keep that in mind if you text a lot!

Conclusion
Good phone. This is a solid choice. It has its up’s and down’s, but overall it does the job of being a smartphone well. I still dislike that Samsung included a slower processor for the Samsung Behold 2, but the difference in speed doesn’t feel too noticeably different. The Samsung Moment with its more powerful processor only feels a tad faster at times than this phone despite the difference in speed.

T-Mobile HTC MyTouch 3G / Magic
This phone is famous for being similar to the HTC Hero, but not as good…

HTC MyTouch 3G / Magic Technical Specifications

Operating System: Open OS – Android

Memory Internal Memory: Flash 512MB; RAM 192 MB DDR (includes 64MB baseband chip)

Expandable Memory/Card Slot: Yes Type: Micro SD Size: Up to 32 GB

Weight: 4.1 Ounces (round to 1 decimal point)

Battery Life: Talk time: 7 hours / Standby time: 2.5

Battery Type 1340 mAh Lion

Changeable Faceplates: No interchangeable Faceplates / YES – Back plates are interchangeable

Codecs: AMR, EFR, FR, HR

Dimensions of Handset: 113×55.56×14.65 mm

Display – Main Type: Up to 262k TFT color(OS support 64K color) Colors: (16bit)

Size: HVGA (480×320) Dimensions: 3.2 (inches)

Frequency Bands: GSM: 850, 900, 1800, 1900 UMTS: Yes Bands: 1 (2100) & 4 (AWS 1700/2100)

Phone Style: Bar

Phone book Capacity Number of Entries: 10K

E-mail Client Gmail client: Gmail only / Email client – IMAP, POP3, Exchange

Voice Notes: No

IM Client GTalk, separate IM client: AIM, MSN, Yahoo! Messenger

MMS / Picture Messaging: Yes – Multimedia Supported: Audio Clips, Graphics, Photos, Video Clips

Video Messaging: Yes (see above)

SMS / Text Messaging Concatenation Support: Yes Digital TTY/TDD Support: No /Yes Predictive Text: Word Suggestion available when using keyboard

Universal Composer: No

Processor, Storage, RAM
The specs for the HTC MyTouch 3G are average to say the least: 528MHZ processor, 512MB ROM, and 192MB RAM. That’s not to say it’s bad or anything. It’s just average in that field. A 4GB microSD is included with this phone and it has a large microSD capacity of 32GB’s (wow!). You can most certainly use the HTC MyTouch 3G as a MP3 player that means or even a video player. It’s not uncommon.

Screen
The screen, like on the HTC Hero, is a 3.2″ capacitive touch screen with 320×480 resolution. It doesn’t use OLED like the above Samsung phone, but the screen still look beautiful. Kudos HTC!

Camera
The HTC MyTouch 3G has a 3 megapixel camera. The pictures it takes are only ok…Try not to move when taking a picture and make sure the lighting is good so that you’ll get a decent quality photo. The HTC Hero sports a 5 megapixel camera instead, which works much better (and not only because it’s a 5 megapixel camera).

Misc
There are a lot of miscellaneous mentions with this phone. For example, the HTC MyTouch 3G uses a virtual/on-screen keyboard (unlike the HTC G1). It is also thinner than the HTC G1 and has better battery life than the HTC G1. Some interesting features about the HTC MyTouch 3G is that it has a trackball that can be used for navigating, an accelerometer so that the phone knows when you rotate it (and will display the on-screen keyboard landscap style for you), and uses Android. Also, the build quality is good. Still…is the phone worth it?

Conclusion
This isn’t the best phone out there since it feels downgraded in comparison to the HTC Hero. It isn’t bad though. You’ll still be very happy with it since it retains many of the bells and whistles that all the top smartphones have.

T-Mobile HTC G1
An interesting phone by HTC that uses Android. Does it hold water in comparison to these two phones though?

HTC G1 Technical Specifications

Processor: Qualcomm® MSM7201A™, 528 MHz

Operating System: Android™

Memory ROM: 256 MB | RAM: 192 MB

Dimensions (LxWxT): 117.7 mm x 55.7 mm x 17.1 mm (4.60 in x 2.16 in x 0.62 in)

Weight: 158 grams (5.60 ounces) with battery

Display: 3.2-inch TFT-LCD flat touch-sensitive screen with 320 x 480 (HVGA) resolution

Network HSPA/WCDMA: Europe: 2100 MHz | US:1700/2100 MHz | 7.2 Mbps down-link (HSDPA) | 2 Mbps up-link (HSUPA) speeds | Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz

Device Control: Trackball with Enter button

Keyboard: Slide-out 5-row QWERTY keyboard

GPS: GPS navigation capability with Google Maps™

Connectivity: Bluetooth® 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate

Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11b/g

HTC ExtUSB™: 11-pin mini-USB 2.0 and audio jack in one

Camera: 3.2 megapixel color camera with auto focus

Audio: Built-in microphone and speaker

Ring tone formats: AAC, AAC+, AMR-NB, MIDI, MP3, WMA, WMV, 40 polyphonic and standard MIDI format 0 and 1 (SMF)/SP MIDI

Battery: Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery

Capacity: 1150 mAh

Talk time: 350 minutes for WCDMA, 406 minutes for GSM

Standby time: 402 hours for WCDMA, 319 hours for GSM

Expansion Slot: microSD™ memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)

AC Adapter Voltage range/frequency: 100 ~ 240V AC, 50/60 Hz

DC output: 5V and 1A

Special Features: Digital Compass, Motion Sensor

Processor, Storage, RAM
As you may have guessed, the HTC G1 has a 528MHZ processor, 192MB RAM, and 256MB ROM. Standard numbers here. Do note that it has the same amount of RAM as the HTC MyTouch 3G, but less RAM than the Samsung Behold 2. That means a lot of the performance of this phone will depend on the operating system and any additional addons by HTC. This phone supports a 16gb microSD. Be sure to load it up with media for fun.

Screen
The HTC G1 has a 3.2″ Capacitive Touch Screen with 320×480 resolution. It’s a nice screen, but average when compared to the other phones listed here. The Samsung Behold 2 is in the lead with its OLED screen still.

Camera
The camera for this phone is good, though it is missing some things. It’s an average, 3 megapixel camera that has no flash. If you don’t care about the megapixels, then this isn’t a problem…And if you have good lighting, then you may not need the flash (though a flash is always preferable). This camera is similar to the one found in the MyTouch 3G, but for whatever reason works better from my experience.

Misc
The HTC G1 has Android as its operating system. It also comes with a nice, physical Keyboard and even an Accelerometer. Like the other phones, you can use wifi on this — and it works well. Expect a fast battery drain though from this phone…You’ll need to be sure to turn off widgets, bluetooth, and wifi when not using them to prolong the battery life. Another worthy mention is that this phone includes a Trackball for playing games, navigating, and so forth. Pretty neat, but not neccessary on a touchscreen phone (that doesn’t mean we don’t want it though!). The build quality is a bit low in comparison to the HTC MyTouch 3G and Samsung Behold 2, but as long as you’re careful with it you’ll be fine.

Conclusion
Not a bad phone. It holds its own against the MyTough 3G and Samsung Behold II, but doesn’t shine too much in comparison to the other phones except for the fact that it has an actual keyboard, which can be a big plus. If you text a lot, then this is a good phone for you. An on-screen keyboard will not give you the same tactile feeling as a physical keyboard and may slow you down.


Wrapping Up
So that is the short comparison / review of these three phones. They have their ups and downs but they’re all good phones. They’re also all Android phones with similar RAM, ROM, and Processor Speeds. The Samsung Behold II has an OLED screen, more RAM, and a camera that rules all stat-wise; the HTC MyTouch 3G has decent battery life that beats both the HTC G1 and the Samsung Behold II, and the HTC G1 has a physical keyboard, which the Samsung Behold II and HTC MyTouch 3G lack. It adds a bit of thickness but makes txting much easier. Make your choice wisely! If you have any experience with these three phones, be sure to comment 🙂 I had fun using them and would love to hear the opinions of others.

Some Cases/Accessories
When you have such an important phone, it’s good to protect it…immediately! Here are some well-rated, inexpensive ones from Amazon. Also, keep in mind you may want an extended battery for your phone. Amazon has them for the HTC MyTouch 3G and the HTC G1, but not for the Samsung Behold II unfortunately.

Have fun with your awesome phone if you end up getting one of these badboys!