Review: Final thoughts on the Cingular Samsung BlackJack SGH-i607

Posted by: Brandon Steili on Dec 18 2006

Well I know some of you have been waiting for this, and while the wait has been longer than I originally anticipated hopefully this final look will live up to your expectations.

Let me first say if you haven’t seen my first thoughts - check it out HERE. I have to be honest, you’re not going to find any ground breaking revelations in this thread … but you are going to find some new pictures, a few new thoughts (I hope) and some thoughts I’ve had on some reviews I’ve read on “the other guy’s sites”.

Read on…

WHAT’S IN THE BOX - The very tiny box

• Cingular branded Samsung BlackJack - i607
• Power Adapter
• 2 - 1200 mAh rechargeable Lithium-ion batteries (Hopefully the non-exploding variety)
• External battery charger (Which like a dufus I confused for a simple battery holder)
• USB sync cable (with annoying proprietary connector)
• Getting Started Guide (Does anyone look at these things? SAVE A TREE!!)
• A CD … that I really should open!

What’s it like on the outside?

Well little Jimmy (or Mary), the BlackJack is pretty much unlike anything else you will come across when you are out shopping for a new phone. Sure it’s black and that’s a pretty popular color, sure it has a screen on it, and sure it looks like a candy-bar phone that got run over by a steam roller - but don’t let that fool you. There’s a lot of little things that have gone into the the design of this phone to make it one of a kind - okay - “one of a couple just like it kind”. You see, the big carriers all have one of these, but they are made by different people and therefore are just a little different. The biggest competition comes in the form of the Motorola Q and the T-Mobile Dash (HTC Excalibur)… I’ve had a chance to play with both of these phones and I have to be honest here - while they are the “competition” they just aren’t. This is a totally subjective sort of thing, and if you lined up 3 people and gave them all three phones you would likely find that all three preferred something different, but this is my review and those other 2 people’s thoughts can stay in their head =)

Now, again back on track - What’s it really like on the outside?

It’s black. DUH!!!

Seriously it is.

What? You expect me to say it’s purple? It’s the BlackJack… it’s not going to be blue!!!

You want proof? … See Black!

Ok. All joking aside, the BlackJack isn’t just black on the outside. It’s many things and this is where some of the greatness of this device comes from. The first you notice that should be the most apparent and the thing you will see the most - the screen. Now most reviews I’ve seen don’t even mention this part - and while I can see why (because let’s be honest they all have screens) it’s one of the most important parts. A device can be many, many things, but at the end of the day if the screen looks like buttocks - then you won’t love it and the screen on the BlackJack is nothing short of spectacular. Without a screen protector on it, I would seriously pit the clarity of this screen against anything you can find in the HDTV department of BestBuy. Yes, even against the DLP screens. Size for size it’s that clear. I don’t have the pixel for pixel comparison to back that up … but what I do have is a pair of $1700 Lasik eyes that tell me so. So, rest assured if you had to look at this screen all day long - it won’t be the reason you dislike the phone. Granted it’s only QVGA (240×320) but don’t let that scare you away since this layout is near perfect for browsing and viewing images, emails, and movies.

Arg! - Stupid eBay auction paid advertising show on TV made me lose my train of thought. Moving on…

Just below the screen is one of the two things you’re going to hate for the first 20 minutes you use the phone - the navigation keys. Now, I’m not going to beat these keys to death as they are pretty standard faire, but I will say this - You are going to hate these at the beginning. Sorry to say, there’s just no way around it. They are cramped and they are flat and therefore easy to “fat finger” … but again at the end of the day you’ll be fine. What it really comes down to is they do what they need to do, and you need to slightly adjust the way you attack the buttons compared to other devices. Once you do, they will not hinder your ability to get things done. I really thought they would be a problem, and considered returning the device because of them … but after a short while adjusting to them they aren’t that bad and I’ve found my error rate using them dropping off steeply the more I use the phone. Sure I still hit back every once in a while trying to hit the right menu button, but that’s become a rare occurrence and not enough for me to really complain to Samsung about. I wish they were raised/separated a little bit .. but again it’s not too big of deal over time. I’ve got bigger complaints.

Down to the second part of the outside that you’re going to hate for the first 20 minutes. The keyboard. Think Tic-Tac. Now, as I mentioned in my last look at the BlackJack this is a big complaint for most new users. They keys are VERY small and very close together, but the current design is a vast improvement over the original design on the i607’s predecessor the i320 which was a pain in the butt to type on. Here’s a hint - don’t try to use the fat part of your finger to type, use the skinny part right below your nails. I promise doing this and you’ll be typing like a pro in a few short minutes. Here’s another tip - if you want the alternate key (number/symbol) press and hold the key for about a second. Saves a trip to the function key/number key! The first time you find yourself thinking how bad this sucks, just think about how much worse it could be if you were trying to send this massive email using a T9 keyboard. I promise (yet again) you’ll be a happy camper again in seconds. The QWERTY keyboard is one of the best features of this phone, and I can honestly say given the choice of having a smartphone without a QWERTY keyboard and no phone at all - I’d be in a land of no communications.

On the sides - we’ve got the standard faire yet again… well aside from the click-wheel and the horrible Samsung proprietary connector, and the annoying little “doors”. All of which can be seen below. There’s a volume control right above the charger door … incase you were wondering what that does. and the door above the click-wheel houses the MicroSD card.

Now, notice the annoying little doors. They are held on by little clear plastics and honestly are of questionable durability. So far I’ve seen a few reports that they are now loose on some people’s phones and even one report of someone so sick of it over the charging port that they tore it off (obviously not recommended). This is likely my biggest gripe with the device. While they keep things smooth and sexy, they feel flimsy and just aren’t very nice to use. I fail to see why the charge port couldn’t have been left exposed on the bottom of the unit? Ah well, it can’t be perfect. As for the click-wheel - LOVE IT! Better yet I love the little launcher application that pops up when you hold it down for 2 seconds. Also right below the click-wheel is the side mounted back button. Pressing and holding this button will be default launch the camera, however this can be adjusted using the phone’s key settings page. Chances are good you won’t be using the lack-lustre 1.3 mega-pixel camera all that often anyway.

Finally moving on the the back of the phone. Notice the hunchback … I’ve gotten over it now, but I again fail to understand how the i320 could incorporate a camera, and not have a hump - yet the i607 has to have this thing on the back. ARG! Ultimately, this is something I can can overlook as it provides a great place to help hold the phone and keep it from sliding out of your hands. Not like this is going to happen thanks to the soft rubbery coating on the back, but again it provides a nice spot to keep your fingers. Notice in the above picture the new “3G” card… no worries if you upgrade. This card is backwards compatible and will work with older devices. I tend to keep a “junk” phone around for when I’m going to do something stupid (like play paintball) and I just don’t feel like trashing my good phone. This sim card won’t prevent you from doing this. Also - get used to this view. If you don’t charge your phone at night, or you are a seriously over phoned kind of person, this is the view you’ll see a lot when you are swapping out batteries everyday. I’m not going to compain about battery life - the phone does a good job for me - but there’s a lot of complaints about battery life especiialy if you live in a 3G area so be preparred for that. I definitely recommend you give the phone a trial run if you tend to burn through batteries on your current device as the BlackJack is not going to provide you enough juice to make it through multiple days of heavy useage.

What’s on the inside?

Frustration. That’s what’s on the inside. Just kidding. The BlackJack comes with Windows Mobile Smartphone 5 on it and really it’s a great alternative to a full blown Windows Mobile 5 build. I thought I would have a hard time adapting to not having a touch screen on my device but I’m here to tell you it can be done. Really this was my biggest fear and while it took a little getting used to, I honestly very rarely find myself longing to be able to tap on the screen to make something happen. Granted there’s not the same level of software available for smartphone, but the stuff that is available is generally top-notch in providing good navigation without the need to use a touch screen. “One-handed goodness as PatrickJ” would say oozes from this phone!

The application list when you first fire up this phone is excellent. I really don’t know how else to put it. Samsung did a stellar job in providing nearly everything you could want or need right out of the box and really the BlackJack ships with one of the best “built-in” software packages I’ve ever seen. I’ve owned a lot of devices and really this package beats them all. There’s no trialware here and nothing I would consider wasted (aside from the Cingular junk they piled on). The package starts from the homescreen. Samsung custom built (or I assume it was Samsung) a homescreen plugin/dll that really is incredible. I’ll let it speak for itself for the most part … but basically it allows a couple different modes as you can see below. There’s a single line mode that allows you to scroll the different information or there’s a pop-up version which displays icons on the MRU along with your needed information. All-in-all a very slick homescreen setup. There’s a couple other nice one’s included that have a calendar on-screen as well as a big clock. And yes … it really was just after 3am when I wrote this. I’m hardcore =P

On to the included software… Obviously Cingular had a say in some of it, but these are mostly just web links. Beyond that you’ll see some instant messaging software (which is not installed by default - it downloads a cab file), My Stuff (a great file explorer + other stuff), JAVA, an RSS Reader (which I have yet to get to work right), finally a useable search utility capable of finding more than just files using up more than “X” amount of memory, and the document viewing wonderdog the Picsel Viewer.

Finally… some more random photos. The devices in the pictures below are of course the BlackJack, a T-Mobile SDAII and an HP RX3115 Mobile Media Companion. You’ll note that the BlackJack while not only being a lot sexier than the other devices is quite a bit thinner than them as well.

Using the phone

Well, it’s phone and a great one at that. Call sound quality has been top notch, I’ve not dropped many if any calls and I tend to get better reception (more bars) in most areas than I have with other phones. Obvioulsy your milage may vary in this area. My only real complaint is that the phone isn’t all that comfortable to hold up to your ear. I’m not sure what it is about the phone but it just isn’t comfortable for long periods. Most likely it’s the flat surface and square edges. In any event if you’re a talker (and you know who you are) … get a bluetooth headset. You’ll thank me later.

Random Thoughts

I’ve seen a lot of complaints that the BlackJack needs WiFi. While this may be true, most people will find they don’t need it. Edge is “livable” but if you live in an area (like me) without UTMS you’ll find yourself wishing for Wifi. If you’re in another area that has 3G … you won’t. Atleast I don’t see why you would - it’s not like you’re going to be downloading multiple gigabyte files on your phone. The other arguement is for those that don’t have a dataplan and want data. Well in all honesty - this arguement is pretty much null and void. If you got the phone through Cingular you had to buy a data plan (unless you bought it at face value in which case you paid too much). If you bought it online, you should have known that Windows Mobile 5 shines on it’s mobility (push email) … data needs to follow it. That’s one of the biggest features of these new devices - and a data plan is pretty much a geek-gotta-have!

Bluetooth problems … sorry folks nothing to report here although I’ve seen some complaints mostly with people using multiple devices or doing something unusual. My wife’s Star Trek geek headphone thingy worked like a charm and I’ve yet to buy BT headphones. Something about having a earphone thing attached to my haed making me look super-dorky just hasn’t caught on with me yet… but that’s a rant for another day.

The Camera. Yup … it sucks. Just like all the other 1.3 MP cameras out there. The software is pretty cool … but the camera sucks. Let’s just say that it won’t be winning any awards since my 4+ year old Kodak dx3500 kicks its hind quarters. Samsung tossed on a ccouple little add-on things to spruce up what you can do with the phone - but it still sucks. 2 MP phones should be standard. Anything else is just taking up space. Sorry but that’s my 2 cents.

Cinguar is screwing up and frankly this one has me a little peeved. If you’re going to market something as a mobile media device (see music shopping commercial) … include some freaking headphones. Don’t feed me a $39.99 package for some $5 headphones. Note to the wise … cut Cingular out of this sale and buy some from eBay… better yet buy an adapter that will allow you to use your own headphones. IMHO this is bullpuckey and they shouldn’t make a penny off of it.

Speed . For what the phone is, it’s plenty fast. I’ve not yet found myself getting angry at it for being uber-slow. Something I couldn’t ever honestly say about my 8125. That thing was as slow as a snail that had been stuck to the floor with epoxy (No. I’ve never done that so please don’t write me about how mean it is). Warning - a Mazda rx-8 this thing is not … but it’s definitely a Mazda 3. Zoom-Zoom-Zoom. Yea … I love my Mazda.

Thanks Samsung for allowing me to change my right soft key. Love it. Wish everyone did that instead of making us install a tweak or a reg hack to make that happen… not everyone wants the contacts as a quick key.

Specs

Dimensions (W x D x H) - 2.3 in x 0.5 in x 4.4 in

Weight 3.5 oz

Width 2.3 in

Depth 0.5 in

Height 4.4 in

Processor 220 MHz

128 MB ROM / 64 MB RAM

Dual-band domestic UMTS/HSDPA - 850/1900 MHz

Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE - 850/900/1800/1900 MHz

MicroSD expansion slot - up to a 2 GB card

Bluetooth v2.0

Warranty: 1 year - phone and accessoriesWrap-up

Why are you still reading this??!! You’re not at the store already? I was. The day it came out. Quit slacking, the kids don’t need presents. Your spouse will understand!!!

Seriously. Go. Now.

If you can’t tell I love this phone. I know I picked on it a bit throughout the review, but that should be expected. No device is ever perfect and without pointing these things out they will not continue to improve… but for the time being the BlackJack is THE device. How do I know? Well, one of my not so techie buddies stopped by tonight with his kids. He spotted the phone on my table and said - “this must be yours”. I nodded and he proceeded to tell me how cool it was, asked me all kinds of questions and told me all about what this thing was supposed to be able to do. He knew all about it before he even walked in the door. Now, when a non-techie is all kinds of excited about a device … you know it’s got something going for it. I can’t give any higher praise than that - when my non-geek friends come over and geek out all over my phone, well that’s saying something.

Pros:

Form factor is excellent, one handed use is exceptional, Samsung bundled some nice apps, and the screen is amazing.

Cons:

Those stupid doors, battery life could be better, no headphones included. NO 3G in Denver yet (personal gripe).

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

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!