With WiFi (News - Alert), Bluetooth 2.1, GPS and a graphic touchscreen based on Google’s Android platform, T-Mobile’s latest holiday handset is something to behold, indeed.

 

T-Mobile USA is reportedly putting the finishing touches on Samsung’s Behold II smartphone just in time for shopping season. The new 3G phone gives users instant access to Google Maps, YouTube (News - Alert), Google’s search engine and more.

 

Other features of Samsung’s Behold II include a 3.2-inch organic light-emitting diode display and a five-megapixel camera/camcorder.

 

“The premium screen and quality camera coupled with Samsung’s innovative cube menu makes the Behold II a multimedia powerhouse that’s made even stronger by T-Mobile’s high-speed 3G network,” T-Mobile USA Product Marketing Director Travis Warren told reporters.

 

T-Mobile’s announcement coincided with a similar one from Verizon Wireless, which said it plans to invest significant resources into Android-laced mobile phones.

 

The news of T-Mobile and Verizon’s (News - Alert) Android plans comes as major device manufacturers have unveiled new Android handsets.  

In early September, Motorola (News - Alert) announced “CLIQ,” its first Android-infused smartphone, which follows on the heels of Android-equipped cell phones from T-Mobile (the “G1”), Samsung (the “17500”), HTC and Vodafone. 

 

Then, LG Electronics (News - Alert) countered with its LG-GW620, the South Korean mobile phone manufacturer’s first handset to incorporate Google’s Android OS.