The Sapience Society

This is pretty immature, but I’m going to do it anyways.

T-Mobile/Samsung, would you please release a firmware update for the Samsung Behold?

It’s a buggy phone at best and a brick at worst, but a lot of it’s problems could be fixed relatively simply. The following is a categorized list of problems with the Behold, all non-physical problems could be fixed via a firmware update.

Key: The bolded items could be fixed via a firmware update.

1. Case
   1. Hold button is too small and is located in a position which is uncomfortable to press unless you have long thin fingers. A more appropriate position would be either just above the camera or on the right/left side along the top (like iPhone/iTouch)
   2. MicroSD slot is covered by the battery. This is strange because where as MicroSD can be swapped out while the phone is turned on, I don’t think its a good idea to remove the SIM card while it’s turned on. Switch the two positions?
   3. Proprietary charger/headset. Who doesn’t think this is a problem? STANDARDIZE!
2. User Interface
   1. Screen saver can not be changed. There is absolutely no reason why this should be the case.
   2. Widgets are not saved upon reboot. I don’t use them much, but some widgets are nice to have there, such as the inbox and create text widgets. Why not just reload the last known configuration upon reboot.
   3. Menu background customization/theming. The background of the menu is the only thing I’d really change if I could… but why not have full themeing support? Almost every other phone I’ve ever seen has this feature.
   4. Switch back to the last used home page upon app exit. When I exit from my inbox, the web, or whatever, why not allow me to return to the menu instead of home screen if that’s what I want.
3. Bluetooth
   1. Can not adjust bluetooth visibility of photos located on memory card. WTF? I don’t get this one at all… not one bit.
   2. Bluetooth is not compliant with software.
      1. BluePhoneElite2 for mac can not interface with Behold.
      2. Apple iSync can not sync with Behold.
      3. Other bluetooth texting apps will not receive messages over bluetooth.
         
4. Bugs/Glitches
   1. Sometimes, when trying to view a text message the text comes up blank, after this point the phonebook shows no entries, device must be restarted, upon restart all recent text messages are deleted. This is a problem that I’ve been having on my Behold, it’s made it completely unusable. I haven’t seen anywhere online where others have had this same problem, but it’s definitely happening to me.
   2. Ascending volume of ringtones can not be disabled. I understand why this “feature” was implemented, it’s “to protect us from loud ringtones going off in our ears” (Harmon-PD), but some of us use songs for our ringtones, and some songs start out quietly, get the picture? Allow us to turn this “feature” off please.
   3. Web browser issues. I don’t have a data plan, so really I can’t tell you what’s wrong about this. No HTML support? Something like that? I don’t know, but apparently a lot of people have had problems with the web browser.

There’s really just so much ground to cover here that I can’t possibly think of it all, but if you know of something I didn’t cover post a comment and I’ll add it. I’ve actually tried to have my phone replaced because of how many problems I’ve had with it, but T-Mobile has refused me three times now, and have even refused to repair it. If you want to complain about your crappy Behold, why don’t you try contacting T-Mobile?