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stars
"25 cents short of a dollar" on by benjaminkessler
Pros: Good form factor, lightweight, good call quality
Cons: Terrible battery life, horrible user interface, slow, poor Outlook Notes syncing, bad reception
Summary: When the Blackjack came through to Cingular, I was really ready for an upgrade from my tried and true Treo 650. What I wanted was the same functionality in a smaller and lighter phone, and the Blackjack seemed to check off all the right boxes.
What I got was a slow, difficult to navigate, battery-sucking little monster. As a frequent early adopter, I have never been so disappointed; here is a product which seems to have everything and yet is good at nothing. As others have described its virtues, I am going to focus instead on its fatal flaws. And while this may seem a whole-hearted attack on the phone, I don't lack balance. I am, of course, a sucker for its form factor. I like it's size and style and weight, and I think the slanted keyboard keys work pretty nicely for what they are. Above all, I really really wanted to love this phone.
The purpose of this review is to bring to the forefront some of the major flaws that make this phone ill-suited for the mobile professional looking for productivity first and entertainment second. I have observed wholehearted adoration for this phone emanating from Cingular store employees; I suspect this is because it is good for listening to music (if you can find a way to listen to it – Bluetooth stereo headphones have not fared well in reviews thus far, and there is currently not a suitable stereo hardwired headset option), viewing 20 second video blurbs, and storing contacts. I imagine they’re not doing a whole lot of corporate emailing, Outlook syncing, or .pdf viewing.
So enough of all that - here are my top 5 reasons why you should think twice before dropping your hard earned cash on this little wonder:
1) Battery Life. As commonly complained, this phone can rarely make it through the business day without a recharge/battery swap. What this means is, I take this phone off the charger, fully charged, at 7 am, and need to have it charged again or the battery replaced by 2 to 3 pm. This is entirely unacceptable, particularly as a battery replace involves powering down and restarting the unit.
2) User Interface. While the screen is colorful and sharp, it often takes several keystrokes more than necessary to reach an application, and the UI is counterintuitive at best. The customization of the home screen is cosmetic only, and allows for no remedy of this problem. The 3rd party apps that do allow customization are cumbersome, and only slow down a phone that already has a lot of problems with…
3.) Speed. To add insult to injury, this phone is SLOW. Not often advertised is it's 200mhz processor speed - a real thorn in the side of a phone which could really benefit from a faster response time. Even the most simple apps, such as "contacts" take 2 to 3 seconds to load. I also think this must slow down the browser. Despite much vaunted 3G speeds (and I live in a dense metropolitan area and am connected to 3G most of the time), internet browsing is slow and almost unusable. The phone IS fast at downloading email attachments, but it seems that the same data speed cannot be translated effectively into speedy web browsing.
4.) Outlook compatibility. Much to my chagrin, Windows Mobile 5.0 does not support syncing to Outlook notes. Why, I can't comprehend. I was under the impression that a WinMo smartphone would be better integrated with Outlook, but clearly that is not the case. The included 3rd party app to sync to Outlook notes appears to require reentry of all of the notes on the smartphone before moving them over to a new subfolder on Outlook. This is ridiculous for anyone who has a pretty healthy archive of notes. Furthermore, the notes sync destroys categories. Overall, for my personal use (and I understand that this is not the same for everyone), this failure to play nicely with Outlook Notes is a disaster. It's also embarrassing for MS, who I tend to typically defend against all the naysayers who accuse them of half-baked product integration and luke warm innovation.
5.) Reception. I don't know if this is a problem with Cingular's 3G network or what, but reception on this phone has been approximately 50% inferior to what it was on my previous phones. I will often not receive calls at all in areas where I used to have 3 to 4 bars and have no problems. Once again, don't know if this is the phone or the network, but the fact that this phenomenon has occurred everywhere (and I have traveled with it) convinces me it is probably the phone.
In summary, I think I've made it clear I was pretty disapointed with this phone. It really has all the potential to be great. I think with a faster processor and a more intuitive interface and better Outlook compatibility, this phone will be there. In the end, I've decided that I would much rather have a slightly heavier and less glamorous phone that actually works and does well the things I need it to do than be a fashion victim to the underwhelming Blackjack.Updated
To clarify my review, I referred to the OS as Windows Mobile 5.0. It is, indeed, Windows Mobile 5.0, despite the comments I have received to the contrary. Although it is Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone Edition as opposed to Pocket PC Edition. I cannot comment on whether or not the Pocket PC Edition natively supports Notes syncing, but I still maintain that this ommission is ironic in the context of a MS OS.
- 18 replies to this review
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I see here that we compare among different services and smartphone generations. Is that fair for the next readers?
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Point 5: Agree reception is inferior. I was fooled for 18 months that reception was great until I travelled to San Luis Obispo CA, where my phone switched to emergency service only and stayed like that until my return to the Bay Area. Works fine everywhere else. All other Samsung phones in our family worked fine there. Very frustrating. Tried new SIM, to no avail. One AT&T salesperson said he'd heard the paint used on this phone impaired the reception. Don't know if this is true but am now facing having to buy a cheap phone to use just when I go to visit son at Cal Poly. How ridiculous is that!
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I purchased several of these phones for employees and had the same complaints you listed below. of course after 30 days you can't return them which is such crap. They are comming out with a new model but I am sure it is crap also!
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I have the same issue. I have had AT&T, Cingular and now AT&T again since approx 1998. I always had great reception in my home, car and travelling all over the country. Since getting the BlackJack the reception is terrible and almost all my calls over 5 mins. end up dropping. To make matters worse, when the call drops the phone "freezes" in the connected mode and I can't make or receive a call. I either have to turn the phone off and on again or wait about 3 - 5 mins for the main menu to return. VERY frustrating as I make a lot of businees calls on the phone. I'll be taking this one back. The email is great but I need a relaible phone!
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Hello Benjaminkessler,<br> I really really appreciated your review. I just recently got a Blackberry Pearl. Which I must say....is an awesome phone. I am not too much of a business user or a developer, but I have owned and investigated a lot of smart phones. You noted that you were a business user first entertainment second and I am the opposite. Coming from a Treo 650 I am not making the transition well. I am interested in knowing what phone u are currently using. Seeing that Cingular has pulled the 680 d/t recalls.<br>Thanks
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the BlackJack is a phone... not a LAPTOP!
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I sure wish I'd read this review back in January.....before I bought TWO of them!! I agree with every single point you made. This is NOT a user friendly phone on top of which I have to call cingular every month to argue with them about my bill. I shoulda stayed with verizon.
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I get the worst reception on this phone as well. It's also s-l-o-w.
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I just wanted to let you know that I found your review very helpful. My usage model is very much the same you describe for your own personal use and you touched on every point I consider essential. Will be looking at other phones now.
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. . . if not the Blackjack.<br><br>By the way, do you have any interest in the camera/video functionality of these devices? I bought a Pocket PC (Ubiquio) with a 2 megapixel camera and found the quality poorer than my Nokia with a 640x480 camera!<br><br>Also, why a smartphone rather than a pocket pc?<br><br>Thanks for your review, it is tiresome to constantly get the sycophant lobby reviews!
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Saw this possible fix on blackjacksmartzone forum. It might fix the problems with the java that is installed on the phone..<br><br>(quote)<br>For a fix to the Java, use the IBM V9 java.<br><br>j-host.net/blackjack/
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They are really good. They address many of the short falls you have found!
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I've had this phone since the day it came out and you must be talking about a different phone. I'm a power business user and first you must realize the Blackjack uses WM Smartphone edition and is somewhat limited compared to WM Pocket PC. Also 3G is a data network not voice so you can't blame poor call quality on the 3G network. I just went on a business trip to Dallas and talked to people all the way their and in the city with no clarity issues. Finally I get around the phone pretty easy and have not experienced any lags.
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When I hear someone hoping to view PDF's and Word documents on a mobile device, I can't help to wonder why PDA's don't come to mind. <br><br>Yes, they don't cellphone capabilities, but they are far superior to all the "smartphones" presently on the market in terms of battery life, application availability and usability, screen quality and size, and editing capabilities vis-a-vis documents.<br><br>A Palm TX is more expensive than a Blackjack with a contract, but not markedly. Add a cheap, small, free cellphone (with service contract) and you have a decent communication-mobile office set-up.
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According to the Cnet review this runs Windows Smartphone Edition not WM5 which might explain wht Outlook notes doesn't sync well. You also can't edit a Word document.
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Ok. I concede some of the factors that the writer makes. The battery life on the new (and MUCH faster) 3G network is horrid. I have no idea why but it is. One writer has a hack to revert back to the EDGE only mode which really does make the battery last DAYS longer. Samsung has failed on this matter.<br><br>I too am a classic early adopter. I have tried the Treo 600, 650, and 700 devices (both Windows and Palm based), in addition to several smartphones and I just came out of a Cingular 8125 full PDA. The Blackjack is my favorite out of all of them.<br><br>Aside from the battery issue, it is a great little device. This is a Windows mobile device and it's user interface is completely different from that of the Treo's Palm based OS. If you are at all familiar with Windows Mobile than you will find this a willing friend. <br><br>I have found it responsive with crisp buttons and good feedback from the small keyboard. It is a bit cramped but that happens when things get smaller. This is MUCH better than the keyboard on the 8125 or simlar devices and can easily be used one handed.<br><br>On the a last note, I am not sure what problem the previous user was having with his Outlook tasks. My unit sync's tasks perfectly with Outlook although we use a direct connection with our Exchange server so I don't use a cabled ActivSync solution. Overall I love the device with the one caveat of the battery life. Someone needs to address that NOW!
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Hello Benjaminkessler:<br><br>Thanks for the honesty. I thought your insight on the distinction between business and pleasure user interesting. I am clearing a business user - and the other bells/whistles just extra fluff. I have been trapped on an old RIM Blackberry and looking forward to updating. The BlackJack caught my attention. I have been doing as much research as I can trying to figure out which way to go. Obviously, your post has detoured me. The question I have is since I am now detoured away from the BlackJack do you have any recommendations which direction I should go? (I have Cingular). Many thanks for any imput!
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