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Samsung Giving Behold 2 Owners Android 1.6, Can’t Go Any Further

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There is some very good news and some very bad news for all of you Samsung Behold 2 owners out there. The good news is that Samsung will be working to get Android 1.6 to you as soon as they can. The update will feature “Swype, an improved Media Player, updated core Android Applications and improved Bluetooth capabilities.” Everything here sounds great, but what about that Android 2.x promise they’ve been trying to cover up all this time?

samsung-behold-2-announce

That’s where the bad news works its way into the picture, unfortunately. Many of you will be crestfallen to learn that Samsung believes “the Behold II is not upgradeable beyond Android 1.6”.

Samsung Mobile and T-Mobile USA are planning to update the Behold II to Android 1.6 which provides access to Google Maps Navigation, Google Voice Search capability and quick search box for Android. The update will also supply additional benefits including Swype, an improved Media Player, updated core Android applications and improved Bluetooth capabilities. However, the Behold II is not upgradeable beyond Android 1.6.

Well that’s just great. While 1.5-year old devices such as the HTC Dream and HTC Magic are getting helpings of Android 2.2 (in one form of another), Samsung Behold 2 owners can’t get even a 2.0.1 solution going for their phone that was released in November 2009 (that Samsung “promised,” no less). I regret to believe that – after getting its final hoorah in the form of a donut – this may be the end of the line for the 6-month old phone. We wished Samsung would at least make their drivers public so that the dev scene can cook up some better treats for all of you jaded owners out there, but we don’t foresee that happening anytime soon.

If you’re a Behold II owner, how do you feel about this? Will you take action before or after your phone has received the upgrade to Android 1.6? And if you will, just what might that action be exactly? Let it all known in that venting forum we like to call the “comment section” below!

[via Engadget]

Quentyn Kennemer
The "Google Phone" sounded too awesome to pass up, so I bought a G1. The rest is history. And yes, I know my name isn't Wilson.

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60 Comments

  1. Thats what they get for passing up the Droid!

  2. It’s a shame that those owners were promised at least 2.0 through a promo video that Samsung pulled down before making this announcement. Samsung also states that the Behold 2 can’t be upgraded which i think is BS. I hope this raises any red flags for any future buyers to steer clear from Samsung unless it’s their Bada platform. That’s the only time i see them actually staying true to their word

  3. OK.. this is starting to irritate me more and more!

    What those corporations (Samsung, HTC, …) can’t do is already being done by the community: mods have brought 2.1 to the Dream/Sapphire and other first gen Android 1.5 devices.

    I would kindly urge those companies to come up with some kind of policy that will allow them to open up their “abandoned devices” to developers, so that the community is able to invest further into their 6 to 12 month old devices (yes, my non-Sense Cupcake Magic is 7 months old, and already abandoned by HTC, even a Donut upgrade is too much of an investment for them!).

    It’s so easy: if a company is not able or willing to support the device because it costs too much, then let the community do it for them… FOR FREE!

    From a disappointed HTC customer.

  4. Smell that? Smells like a class action lawsuit is coming. Glad I steered clear of the Behold 2 back when I was phone shopping. This ought to be interesting.

  5. i’m soo happy i didn’t buy this phone

  6. Samsung makes some garbage devices anyway.

  7. I guess this is better than nothing. I have a Behold II and with or without any updates this phone is disappointing. I bought it without hands on testing, thats what I get! The guy at T-mobile told me to stick to HTC and never buy sammy again. Sounds good to me.

  8. Samsung really dicked over owners of this phone. There have been devs in the community who have ported 2.1 to the device. The OS works, but nothing else does because of Samsung’s proprietary drivers.

    I was weaseled into buying this phone by a T-Mobile rep who sold me on the availability of 2.x on the device in the near future. Yeah, last time I buy a phone on a promise. Actually, last time I’ll ever buy a Samsung product.

  9. Its better than nothing.
    Some devices are stuck on 1.5.

  10. This is the straw that broke the camels back.we got suckered into buying this phone because we were promised 2.0 this is my last samsung phone I will purchase . I hope to boycott samsung from here on. class action laws suit here we come
    .

  11. I liked the phone when i saw it…like a shiny car. But after ready the announcements and all that, I have to say I am dissapointed. Why can’t they upgrade this dam phone.. oh yeah I do have a Behold II. My only problem with it is that whenever my battery dies or i remove it for whatever reason, my facebook app dissapears. Law Suit coming. You promisenow DELIVER!!

  12. Figures Samsung SUX, see HTC and Samsung are only in it for one thing M-O-N-E-Y. They got their money for these phones so why not just drop them and come out with newer models and of course T-Mobile isn’t helping the cause either.
    Because they just keep buying phones from them instead of supporting their currant line.
    They get new phone and know people want them so in order to get it you either have to buy it out-right or do a early upgrade and renew your contract.
    So if anybody put together a CLASS ACTION SUIT Against Samsung let me know e:mail me @ [email protected] and I will gladly support it

  13. It was to be expected. The Behold II was trashed by reviewers when it came out, mostly for its UI, and there probably aren’t too many of them out there. Why should a company (provider or manufacturer) invest in developing and testing an upgrade when it would affect relatively few users at all, and only a small percentage of those would be conscious that improvements might have been possible. Further, the product is, or will soon be, discontinued anyway–as they all are. The lesson is that if you get a phone you should be prepared to live with it for (say) two years just as it was when you got it, then throw it away. They’re priced for that.

  14. im glad were getting at least 1.6. i like my behold 2, but it is the only android phone ive ever used, and i got it from tmobile nib for free last week. so im not as disappointed as al of you others. i dont get why samsung is falling apart like this, ive had numerous samsung phones over the years and they were all great. why would they go all toyota now? also, just to say it, there is NO company in the world who ISNT just in it for the M-O-N-E-Y. and if consumers stopped acting so douchey and flakey and dropping new stuff like a 2 year old with ADD then we wouldnt have these kind of issues.

  15. BullSh!t !!!! No more SAMSUNG for me !!!!

  16. Idiots…all of you idiots. Class action law suit? Are you serious? So if you go out and buy a computer and the representative tells you “Yes you can upgrade to Windows 7 professional…when it releases,” get it home, try it out for 6 months and try to update, guess what? Your computer is obsolete the day you bring it home. That’s the speed of technology. Don’t be crying because your Samsung Behold 2 that you bought on the advice of a teenager who gets paid minimum wage, who would tell you the Samsung Behold 2 makes you fly, just to make a commision. Do your homework before you buy. Check out reviews and ratings. You are getting all worked up about a SOFTWARE update that will let you sync to Facebook & have live wallpapers…wow, really?

  17. soooooo happy I got rid of this phone a while back! Stuck on 1.6??!!! – that’s a bummer!

  18. Motorola may jump the gun on up dates but at least they still update them. I am never buying a Samsung phone ever.

  19. I am a Behold 2 owner, and behold 2 is my second Samsung device. In the past 5 months I have this phone, it has been an absolutely painful experience. I believe it’s not just me, same with many other Behold 2 users. I have to deal its horrible TouchWiz, constant vibrations (before OTA), and, MOST IMPORTANTLY, losing files many times due to SD card’s malfunctions.
    On top of all these, Samsung’s announcement just shows that it desires to run away from its own corporate responsibility. Not only bringing bad customer relationships, Samsung’s action is deceiving its own consumers and performing unethical behaviors. If a company advertised its device along with a service, when consumers purchased this product, they paid a premium because they saw the ads and believed that the service is in the package. When we purchased this product, we paid for BOTH the product and the full service, NOT part of the full service, namely OS 1.6 instead of OS 2.X.
    To Samsung Behold 2 owners, we should continue to voice, via blogs, forum, facebook, youtube, twitters, and even call Samsung and T-Mobile to express our dissatisfaction, until Samsung gives us a satisfying answer. Of course, lawsuits will follow, if no satisfying answer, for Samsung’s deceiving action! To T-Mobile, T-Mobile has to take part of responsibility as well since Samsung is one of T-Mobile’s major suppliers. This supplier, Samsung, has been causing T-Mobile consumers to have terrible and unenjoyable phone experience. To future Samsung potential buyers, watch how Samsung handles this situation, and then you can decide whether to buy its phone or not. If you see the continuous anger toward Samsung from Behold 2 owners, DON’T buy ANY Samsung products whatsoever for it lacks of capability of handling its corporate responsibility and applying good ethical standards.

  20. As a Galaxy owner I share the Behold2 owners’ pain. We sort of have a 1.6 available (released only officially in Russia I believe), but it’s very buggy, and there haven’t been any further updates for several months.

    My first and last Samsung phone.

  21. 1.6, that’s great. My HTC Dream aka G1 has been running 1.6 for how many months now? The Behold II blows the specs on my G1 away. My wife will be happy to know that she’s finally getting Google Nav and all the other 1.6 goodies. But I’m typing this on an older piece of hardwre that is running Android 2.1 (Eclair) while she suffers through the touchwizonyou ui.

    Release the drivers Samsung, the OS is open source. Allow the Android community to make your product worth owning.

    P.s. never buy a product off the website without knowing / trying it.

  22. same thing happened to me with my Galaxy. i’m starting to notice a pattern…

  23. Whenever you buy a phone that isn’t well equipped for future upgrades or is bogged down by Sense UI, you run into this problem of delayed upgrades, or no upgrades.

    that’s why you should have bought the Nexus One

  24. I hope that T-Mo starts selling the Nexus One in stores soon so that people who wouldn’t buy it directly from Google can have a chance to try it out. If that happens, maybe the Behold II owners will be able to buy a real Android phone. It looks like the Galaxy S might be coming to T-Mo but that is still a Samsung phone. Samsung probably won’t want to update that phone either.

  25. That’s very disappointing news. It also does not bode well for the Galaxy S imo. The S will get 2.1 from launch, but what about 2.2? I was really looking forward to the S since it has a great gpu, but now I’m not so sure.

  26. but they make nice tvs

  27. never buying a Samsung phone again. EVER!!

  28. @tub … have you ever been promised something that should be easy to be deliver as an update of software and then dont get it. Its frustrating when you buy a phone that you try at the store and it works great. Then you use it for months and you see what type of phone it really is. How is it my fault that t mobile an samsung did NOT DO ENOUGH to advertise this phone so it could have some sort of success. Did the reviews really hurt this phone that much? I think the lack of t mobile and samsung support killed this phone. every one talks about how the touch wiz is crap. I agree but home replacements on the market (openhome, ahome etc) make this phone better and mask the touch wiz. So if samsung did not sell enough of the behold 2 to customer its because T MOBILE AND SAMSUNG are at FAULT . so yes i need to be compensated for their FAULT. I will be terminating my contract with tmobile today and telling them their promises dont mean anything to me . I hope they lose more customers for this .

  29. I’m an HTC Hero owner and this is my last HTC phone (except for the nexus one since Google controls it ) . My next phone will be either an iPhone 4g or a nexus one . For the samsung owners the best thing you could do is to never buy a samsung phone .

  30. They are so fucking stupid! Fuck Tmobile and Samsung! Tmobile doesn’t even stand up to Samsung for their customers! They just bend over and take it! Pussies! Never again! Verizon Droid here I come. This makes not just Behold 2 owners pissed but makes people who were going to purchase any new Samsung phones in the future easily change their minds and go with another maker. Nobody wants to buy anything from a company that lies and tries to cover their tracks on top of it. IDIOTS!!! I saw the “getting screwed by samsung” video on Youtube where they state when 2.x comes Behold 2 will update wirelessly” How fucking dare them!

  31. T Mobile USA just doesn’t get it. Any former user who bought a Samsung Android phone is frustrated. The Behold will only run 1.6. The Moment runs a crippled 2.1. If T Mobile wants to offer Samsung Galaxy ALL USERS SHOULD STAY AWAY, IT WILL NOT RUN Gingerbread or anything else. Samsung has a history of NOT UPGRADING THEIR phones. Until Samsung proves the contrary with existing phones this would only be wasted money. If the product was HTC based, maybe it would have a good choice if it was Motorola, Maybe, but Samsung… they can keep it.

  32. I feel sorry for you all guys!! I’m in the same boat but with the motorola cliq… a couple months ago an update from 1.5 to 1.6 would be awesome. But now that 2.2 is just in the courner; no wayyyyyy! That’s so frustrating… I’m just waiting for the my touch 3g slide, I don’t wanna know anything about motorola cliq and of course any samsung phone either…

  33. I have a behold2 and it works pretty well but the software is really crippling the device. With 2.2 being four times faster than 2.1 I find it hard to believe that it wont work on a phone that can easily overclocked to 800mhz. I also support a class action lawsuit. scudder44 at hotmail.com

  34. From what I’m seeing over the past year or so, it appears to me that only Motorola and HTC actually TRY to bring updates to their phones. Some updates have been successful and relatively smooth and others have not been, but at least Moto and HTC make a genuine EFFORT to bring their users newer and better phone software. Samsung doesn’t even TRY! They just bring a similarly crappy, but newer-looking phone to market (e.g. Galaxy S, etc) when their buyers get pissed at broken promises of future upgradeability. This is total BS. I don’t think anyone who buys a recent 1.5 device REALISTICALLY expects it to run 2.2 like a Nexus 1, but goddamn, I don’t think Donut is such a leap that the hardware would be overwhelmed and slow down to a freeze, either. Samsung makes some of the world’s most cutting-edge HDTV’s, but when it comes to phones, they are totally bogus.

  35. I don’t believe y’all should be so hard on Samsung I mean the only reason we dont get an update is becuz the stupid touchwiz because the moment just got the 2.1 update

  36. I own 3 Samsung TVs/monitors and the BH2. I also bought one for my mom. I have been happy with the TVs but after this I will never buy another Samsung product. In todays economy when a company doesn’t provide the customer service to stand behind their product that is just plain stupid. I’ll stick with Sony and HTC in the future.

  37. What I want to say that I’m in the same boat is that I/We (cliq owners) am/are stock with the 1.5 and with the promise for an update to 2.1… So, I wouldn’t be surprise we don’t get the update to 2.x… The promise for the update to cliq owners is in the Q2 (april 1st-june 30th) but, like I said before, I’m waiting for the my touch 3g slide!! We (cliq owners) always will be behind because no matter if we get the update to 2.1 then we will be wishing to have the 2.2 and etc, etc… cause the technology won’t stop for you or for me… We just gotta buy another phone; that’s all about it… it’s all about money… but, of course I understand ya’ll position to be angry because they did take back the’re word and that’s the point..

  38. Samsung does need to stick to their promise and update our BH2 to atleast 2.? I have had my BH2 for a few months now and have got three replacements so far with with this phone. Finnally got one that works correctly. The best thing to do is root the phone and flash a new rom to it. Now that I got rid of the TWIZ I love it. Just go to theunlockr.com for instructions on how too’s. This is just till the upgrade come out then will unroot and see how the new upgrade works.

  39. Update that is…

  40. Fear not, brothers, if there is a will there is a way and there is always a way. They all said that the G1 was unable to run Android 2, but we found a way. As soon as Samsung gives up on the Behold, we will start clickity-clackity programming away. God, I hope that Samsung makes those drivers GPL, that would make it easier. Either way before long, the Behold will be running 2.0, 2.1, and even the new 2.2 release. Maybe further.

  41. Samsung is worst company in the Korean history.
    It is Evil company. The CEO of Samsung is fucking Mafia boss.
    He must go to jail. but in Korea, He did not.
    Hello, Every people.
    Dont buy Samsung.
    Please Help us Korean people.
    Never buy Evil Samsung phone

  42. Other website point out how the galaxy s
    Is google branded like that really matters .
    The behold 2 is also google branded. it did not make a difference when they decided to stop supporting the behold 2 with updates . Google should be ashamed to have their brand on the behold 2.

  43. behold 2 is the biggest piece of garbage i’ve ever owned. it take like 30 seconds just to que up a text message. i have no apps to slow me down, and yet its like it has a virus. it dials numbers on it’s own, and from what iv’e been able to tell pales in comparison to most other phones. guess it’s an Iphone for me next.

  44. I’ll gladly hop on a class-action suit, unless they release the source. That would at least be something. In fact, I would prefer a hacked 1.6 with full driver support than stock 2.x with their crappy bloatware. Either way, you can’t just bait and switch like that and get away with it.

  45. My phone was free (won it in a poker game), but I’ll never buy or bet on a Samsung product again. I’ve rooted this phone and it’s running BH_man’s version of 1.6, and I like it. I am still livid that Samsung would essentially promise an upgrade to the 2.x and then go back on it. I doubt that a class-action suit would have a chance, though.

  46. Look at the back of your user manual if you still have it and haven’t burned it with the rest of this (stock) POS… “number one in brand loyalty eight years in a row” … not anymore M#%&(#$)@$&*#S!!!!

  47. No upgrades although I was assured
    I would get them….
    SO DO NOT BUY ANY SAMSUNG PRODUCTS
    of any kind
    and not get lied too again….. Although We are just
    Americans and every country lies to us… Go figure

  48. What’s with the SD card needing formatting all the time?! And of course, all information is lost when it does format. Stupid. I’ve lost lots of good pictures due to this (though somehow they can still appear as my wallpaper? How is that even possible? What are they linked to?)
    My wife bought this phone for me and I tried to like it…but it’s a POS for more reasons than the SD card (battery charge lasts one day? Really?!). Sorry, honey. You tried…
    On the bright side, it did update to Skype…makes texting a lot easier than before. Now if the SD card wouldn’t screw me…

  49. Behold II = my last Samsung. I will never buy another Samsung product, No tv’s, no washers, no microwaves,no cameras….nothing, zero, zip, nada. Every Samsung product I have owned has had issues.

  50. I got a Behold II for my birthday a few days ago, but I think i’m going to take it back and get a myTouch because of this problem. My father, who has the original G1, has 1.6, and his is over a year old, which is simply unacceptable for me.

  51. Well, it seems that alot of people are complaining about not getting an update which will probably bever get used. I own a BH 2 and couldn’t be happier with it. It does everything that I want it to. Maybe the older folks out there should remember when these phones first became available. Getting charged for turning it on. When I shop for a phone , I only rewuire several things to get me. Most of the additions are geared toward the younger crowd I have ownwd a SamSrbg product for easily about 25 years. They have bever let me down. Just because we aren’t able to upgrade to 2.0 shouldn’t be a oroblen big enough for trading it in. I know I won’t . I totally like the phone anbd am completely happy for getting it. Those people out there who complain about the upgrade should remember just who they are and deal with a REAL problem. In case there’s alot of responses to this message. Seems to me that if you were so worried about the upgrade,,,how do you find the time to reply??

  52. The latest update to droid would be great and awesome but there’s a reason why they won’t bother with it. And I’ll tell you why.

    Behold II is like a PC with a Pentium 4 processor with windows xp. XP is the best it will do. There’s no point in installing Windows 7 64 bit. It will run too slow with the latest OS.

    So I’m guessing that the Behold II can be updated but it would be running a bit sluggish, and it wouldn’t be able to handle a lot of the new apps out there.

    For those who got con’d, yes I’d be mad too. As for me, I bought the phone for $120 and I’m pretty happy with what it can do. It does what I need it to do. It’s not the fanciest but it is a good phone. Better than my old gravity. When my contract is over with tmobile I will be switching to the iPhone…and hopefully it’ll be on the verizon network by then…if not…i’ll still be happy with it. Nothing beats the iphone.

  53. You like the behold now? Try to update the drivers to work with windows 7 64bit. Cant be done. Their rep said that the drivers would be updated in the forseeable future. I can’t even get my photos off the thing.

  54. I have a Behold 2 and think it is crap that it will not be able to go beyond 1.6 on the android market. I was told when I purchased the phone that it would be upgraded to atleast 2.0. I would gladly join any lawsuit against Samsung. I tried to get T-Mobile to let me trade the behold 2 towards a Vibrant and was told would only get 60 towards the phone. $60! for a phone I just paid 450 for 6 months ago and have had to have replaced twice now. I am on my third behold 2 in less than seven months of ownership. I will join any lawsuit just email me at [email protected] thank you

  55. I can’t believe this… I bought the Behold 2 cuz i was a big fan of theBehold and when i heard the Behold was an android i went crazy trying to get it and for wat, nuthing… If there is any lawsuit against this i will gladly fallow. Contact me at [email protected]

  56. This whack ass phone has over damn near 268 problems and I named maybe all of them to Samsung a few months ago. They said they were looking into it, but looks like they lied AGAIN. It was a lie and a waste of money and they did nothing about it but give us 1.6 which mainly just changed the keyboard, everything that was wrong before is still there. I felt they could’ve atleast given new phones to people who bought the phone before the OTA upgrade. They got away with it and its wrong. Im still dealing with the problems of this phone even as I type this. Something needs to be done about this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  57. this phone crashes alot!! :/..

  58. I happen to have the behold 2 I feel this is a crappy phone. The apps and features that are important aren’t worth a damn. This is my first and last Samsung.

  59. i have the behold 2 an it doesnt work like any of the other android phone i downloaded three apps an the phone ran so slow then stopped running i had to take out the batt. then restart the phone an uninstall the apps now the screen has a delay in it so when i tap things i have to wait a few sec to c if i tapped it or not samsung i thought was a good brand i guess not unless they can prove otherwise(or that its not junk) to me i wont buy there products anymore an i will tell everyone i know an see to not buy it

    samsung if u see this fix the problem dont just get mad

  60. I only bought the bh2 for two reasons. 1) It has a 5 mp camera. 2) I wanted a phone that was easier to text with. It works great for those two things. However, I don’t think that I would get another phone that is all touch screen. And yes, my phone does have its moments. :-(

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