Well – It’s been a full week with the BlackJack, and I still love this smartphone. I was originally looking for the Treo 750 or the 8525, but honestly when the 8525 prices started showing up around the web I knew there was no way I could convince my wife (or justify it myself) that right around the holidays I needed a new $400 phone. Just wasn’t going to happen. So shortly before the BlackJack came out I got a hold of a Samsung i320 (review here) from Dynamism to check out along with a very used T-Mobile SDA to carry around and see if Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone Edition was going to work for me. As I said in the review – I loved the i320. I hate the SDA. The SDA didn’t have anyting wrong with it, it just didn’t have a keyboard which for me was an absolute deal breaker. 5 minutes typing one sentence on a T-9 is just dumb.

So without further ado – and with a few more way too big images … here’s my Week 1 Review:

Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone -

I wish there was some kind of way to explain how crippled this OS feels. Half the time you sit there loving it, the other half you want to kill it. Most of desire to kill comes from Pocket IE and the fact that there is no touchscreen to get you out of issues. For example – using PIE if you go to eBay and try to search on the main page, you get stuck (not always) entering text into the seach box and no way to get out of the text field to hit the freakin search button. And since Opera is slacking (I mean this in an encouraging way Opera guys) the only option there is to use the Windows Mobile 2003 Smartphone version of Opera … which has a few issues of it’s own.

The Home Screen I really like. I originally thought XML was a crappy way to do this and really made the phone less user friendly. Having used it for a while and designed a few custom home screens I have to admit I love it. The typical user is going to have a rough time customizing the screen thankfully finding and installing themes is simple. That and you can change just the background on an existing theme if you want. (I’ve got the fix for easier themes coming up soon in another review – Think SBSH Facade)

The Georgia Homescreen can be found HERE but as you can tell I’ve heavily modified the original XML to include Facade. If you want it … let me know and I’ll hand it over. Credit for the original design still goes to KOOLdezine… who buy the way makes some killer home screens. The DjBaby screen is a modified version of SBSH Facades original design … but you would never be able to tell.

Task management  = non-existant. There is no "close" button … heck there’s no minimize button. You want to do something else??!! Go Home first, then press start, then…. annoying. Samsung addresses part of this thankfully (see below).  

No Office Apps. No editing for you. Smart DOES NOT mean capable!

Ok, I said I loved the phone and I do … so lets get away from crippled land and into Samsung knew what the heck they were doing land. 

BlackJack Design -

I’m not sure who sat down and thought out the i320 or the i607 (BlackJack) but they did a heck of a job.

The volume control is the only thing on the left side (besides the port/charger cover). On the right side is one of the most used items on the phone (the scroller) and a back button. Both of these are "clickable" and "click & hold" capable. Now, I honestly would have preferred the scroll wheel on the left side of the phone since I use my phone in my left hand and my thumb in that hand is on the wrong side…. but life goes on.

Clicking and holding the scroll wheel brings up a Samsung provided launcher menu – WOOHOOO!!!!! which makes the phone 10 times better IMHO. I love this app!!! It’s totally customizable to launch what you want, and in most cases can save you a few clicks to get to something you need quickly.  That’s it for side buttons … the rest of them are nicely laid out of the front.

Unfortunately however, I think they designed the device a bit too well and I think this caused them to overlook the battery. Battery life is less than stellar, but thankfully Samsung has provided a standalone battery charger and a second battery, that along with this trick can definitely provide you with enough juice to get through the day. I would have still preferred a slightly thicker device for slightly better battery life, but it still has better battery life than the Motorola Q (so I’ve heard)…

Here come the biggest complaints of the phone (by many users – meyself not included)… 

Yup – you guessed it the keyboard and navigation pad. I heard all the complaints … keys are too small, the pitch isn’t right, I hit multiple buttons at a time, the nav pad it too flat … etc etc etc. BAH!!! You guys don’t know nuthin. Try typing on the i320. That was a pain. The keyboard on the BlackJack is much improved, and if you focus on using the thinest part of your finger tips (the part right below the nail) you can actually hit keys very quickly and very accurately. I have personally found my speed to be faster on this keyboard than on the 8125 which had much bigger keys. As for the navigation pad … yea, it could have used a little more definition between the keys but the circular navigation wheel is much better than the i320 navigation buttons.

The screen … I can’t find the words. Read the i320 review for how I feel about the Samsung screens. In a word – gorgeous.

 The back – I really like the no slip grippy stuff. Works wonders! Not much more to say. Oh yea there is … the hump while slightly unsightly has proven to be a good grab point on the phone … and since the camera is pretty much useless (1.3 MegaPixel) it has to serve some kind of purpose. 

Wrap up – Sorry I’m sleepy

Pro’s

Very thin, very light – super easy to keep with you compared to a big brick like the 8125.

Lightweight OS – everything (even on a 200mhz processor) is quick. No speed complaints at all

Voice / speakerphone quality has been excellent.

Connectivity to Cingular’s network has been excellent even in usually thin areas

Con’s

Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone – It’s not a power user operating system. It’s great for casual use however.

The camera … I wish they would start putting decent pixel level camers in these things… atleast a 2MP.

The battery. Its ok .. but it could have been better.

See you at the end of week 2 — More pics and more real life thoughts coming at you then!

UPDATE – See The Final Thoughts Review on The Blackjack HERE  

[tags] Cingular BlackJack, Samsung i320, Samsung i607 [/tags]

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