Samsung Exhibit II 4G Prepaid Android Phone (T-Mobile)

LIST PRICE : $249.99

                                                               PRICE: : $198.00

                                                 CNET Editors' Review

The good: The Samsung Exhibit II 4G has HSPA+ speeds, good call quality, and a lot more bells and whistles than you'd expect from an Android 2.3 Gingerbread phone at this price.
The bad: A cheaper-looking design keeps the Exhibit II from being a lustworthy handset, and photos lack a little brightness.
The bottom line: A surprisingly full feature set makes the Samsung Exhibit II 4G ideal for Android bargain-hunters; just don't expect the best of the best.

T-Mobile has taken an interesting turn with the Samsung Exhibit II 4G, and I'll tell you why. The original Samsung Exhibit 4G (which was quite good) only received the breath of life in June, and it's already being subsumed by a sequel. Moreover, the new Exhibit is the same phone as the Samsung Galaxy W, which was introduced for the U.K. last August.
I'm not sure why T-Mobile was in such a rush to accelerate its Exhibit brand (apart, perhaps, from the ease of already possessing rights to the Exhibit name), but I will admit that the specs are nice for the price. First things first, the Exhibit II 4G runs on T-Mobile's HSPA+ "4G" network. It has a 3.7-inch WVGA touch screen, a 1GHz processor, a 3-megapixel rear-facing camera, and a front-facing VGA camera.
There's also support for T-Mobile TV, and apps like Qik video and the Swype virtual keyboard come preinstalled.
Pricing is the really attractive selling point, with the Exhibit II 4G costing just $29.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate when you buy it with a new, two-year contract, and $199.99 off-contract through Wal-Mart. In fact, T-Mobile is calling the Exhibit II 4G the "first no-annual-contract 4G smartphone to be sold at most Wal-Mart stores." The model I reviewed is sold off-contract and contains T-Mobile's prepaid SIM.
Design
Despite its name, the Exhibit II 4G bears only a little resemblance to the original. Where the first Exhibit 4G had a flat bottom and a rounded top, the sequel literally flips the design on its head, giving us a flat top and a rounded bottom. That's where the similarities end. Instead of the rubberized grippy material enrobing the Exhibit II, it's all hard plastic: a shiny front, matte gray sides, and a textured, nubbly dark-blue backing. There's one metal accent, a ring surrounding the camera lens.