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| Samsung BlackJack II Red Wine Smartphone (AT&T) | 
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| Brand: Samsung
Category: Wireless
List Price: $499.99
Buy New: $0.01
You Save: $499.98 (100%)
New (3) from $0.01
Avg. Customer Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 119
Color: Black
Media: Wireless Phone
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 0 x 0 x 0
Model: BlackJack II
UPC: 635753469035
EAN: 0635753469035
ASIN: B000YT96G6
Release Date: November 23, 2007
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Promotion: Data not available Terms and Conditions
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 1-5 of 13 | | NEXT » |
 Good entry-level smartphone July 1, 2008
When I was buying a new phone about 6 months ago, I was deciding between Blackjack and Blackberry Curve. At that time, I was downgrading from HTC Tilt as I realized I really wanted something simpler and lighter and with a full and easily accessible keyboard. At that time, Blackjack II and Blackberry Curve were the best options for me from the ATT line up. I chose the Blackjack and had no major regrets so far.
On the positive side, the phone has a good sized keyboard, customizable shortcuts, good email and message handling, works well with outlook. I have all my work email forwarded to gmail and use the gmail IMAP setting on Blackjack, which was very easy to set up and works really well.
The web browsing experience is ok, considering the size of the screen. I only use it for light browsing and reading blogs through Google Reader, which works just fine. One thing that I recommend is to avoid using the ATT internet setting and to bypass the MediaNet site. I have the feeling it will increase the browsing speed. I tried the built-in IE, Opera and Opera mini as my browsers and to my surprise, the IE provides me with the most consistent browsing experience (I know I'm not supposed to say that).
After reading about problems with battery life on the original Blackjack, I was pleasantly surprised. The battery will easily last through the day of my typical use of phone calls, email, text messaging, and light web browsing.
Not all is good for Blackjack II though. First of all, the use of proprietary ports for charging and headset is a major rip-off from Samsung. There is no technical reason not to use standard miniUSB. The bigger issue I've had with Blackjack, however, is the build quality. After several weeks of use, the screen backlighting started to behave erratically. It would go off unpredictably during which time the screen was almost, but not quite, dark rendering the phone unusable. Restarting the phone would help sometimes but sometimes you had wait for 20 -50 min for the backlighting to come back on its own. It got so bad that I had to return the phone. The screen on the new unit has been great so far. However, the second phone developed a rattling from the battery compartment. It seems the battery doesn't fit tightly and moves around a bit. It doesn't affect the function of the phone but it's annoying and gives it a cheap feel. I will be sending the phone back again.
Overall, this is a good entry-level smartphone that does almost everything well.
 First Smart Phone June 13, 2008
I recently purchased the Black Jack II and I really love it-so far. I have not completely learned the phone or used all of its features, but the ones that I have used are great. For example the GPS is great....I love being able to get the list of restaurants in my area or find the closest dollar store. Having both my personal & work email at my fingertips is awesome!
I have not gotten the first bill yet for the data plan being added, but so far I really like the phone.
The one thing that I do not like is the way it tracks finger prints & holds oil....I clean the screen after EVERY use!:) I also have to charge it at least every 2 days! But since its working "overtime" it uses a lot of power-so that's okay!
So far, its proving to be a great first smartphone for me.
 Battery is the worst ever don't bother and look elsewhere May 25, 2008
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
This phone is very compact and light in weight....however it's battery is also lightweight in performance.
To give an example you'll charge the battery all night, then once you've unplugged it, you'll be lucky to get 4-5 hours standby...yes standby!!
I've hand an Apple iPhone and wanted something to replace it, that battery didn't last much more than a day and a half.
I tell you this battery is a design fault, it's not man enough for the job, Samsung are normally pretty good, but really this is a waste of a phone.
If you wanna carry spare batteries all day, or don't care about having a phone that will work as a "mobile" phone...then this is for you, otherwise yes please look elsewhere and save your money!
Don't buy this annoying, flimsy phone! May 23, 2008
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
To sum up this phone: The Blackjack 2 is so annoying, it must have been designed by someone who has never used a cell phone before.
I've had this phone for a week now and already it's obvious that this is a piece of crap, like most of Samsung's phones.
On the plus side the phone gets good reception and good battery life.
However the phone comes with many annoyances that I think are good enough reasons not to buy it. These problems are due in part to Samsung's idiotic design, Microsoft's crappy Windows Mobile software, and unreasonable restrictions set by AT&T.
1. Flimsy physical design -- After only a week my phone already looks a year old from scratches and scuff marks even though I've been babying it. (I either keep this device by itself in my pocket or on a table.) Already there are small but VERY NOTICEABLE SCRATCH MARKS on the screen. There's just something about this screen that makes these tiny little scratches very visible. I'm afraid that in a few months my screen will be near impossible to read! It also already has the kind of scuff marks you'd find on a year-old phone. Also the wheel already looks cruddy and it's not like I have constantly dirty hands or anything. I think its very tiny grooves too easily trap dust and other gunk. So what appears to be a very slick casing is, in my opinion, utterly worthless for most people in just a few weeks time.
2. VERY ANNOYING 3 key unlock -- Since this isn't a flip phone you're going to need to lock the phone when you put it in your pocket, bag, or what have you. Locking is easy -- just hold down the End key for 2 secs. But to unlock it you have to press 3 buttons: first the power button (top side of the phone), then the left soft key (below the screen), and then the * key (middle-left of the keyboard, and not easily found at first). A very difficult combination to make. What a ridiculous and unnecessary procedure, and probably my biggest annoyance with this phone since I end up unlocking it many times a day.
3. Voice/text message tones sound only once -- I miss my old phone which would tone/vibrate every few minutes to remind me that I still have unread/unlistened messages. This phone will only tone/vibrate once. There have been many times that I didn't know I had a message because I somehow missed the notification. Very annoying!
4. VERY LOUD startup and shutdown sounds -- AT&T provided the stupidest startup/shutdown screen with this phone. It plays a very annoying swooshing sound, much louder than even my ring tone! Before I turn off my phone at night I have to put it in silent mode so I don't wake my kids!
5. Useful features are locked down or limited -- First, ringtones can't be more than 300KB in size, which limits you from using most ring tones on the market. Second, the phone's GPS is locked down in a way that it can't be used by apps like Google Maps and Windows Live Search. Un-freaking-believable. Some web sites list ways you can hack your phone to work around this, but they're only for the fearless!
6. Undetectable home keys -- Like most keyboards, the Blackjack 2's keyboard has little notches on the F and J keys. However they are so small that you cannot feel them. They're absolutely worthless.
7. No alpha-numeric mapping for 800 #s -- Don't plan on dialing 1-800-COMCAST or other such numbers from this phone unless you know the actual numerical equivalent. Understandably, the phone's numeric keys don't show that 2 is "ABC", 3 is "DEF", etc. since the number keys are already paired with letter keys on the keyboard. But there could be ways around it, like showing the alpha-numeric mapping on the screen as you dial. There was such a hack for the first Blackjack but that hack doesn't work on the Blackjack 2.
This list is just from my first week of use with this phone. There may be more issues I have yet to come across but I felt it necessary to warn anyone considering this phone to AVOID IT AND GET SOMETHING ELSE. I also recommend staying away from Samsung phones altogether. I've had 2 other Samsung phones before and they all suffered from manufacturing defects, major bugs, and usability annoyances. The first Blackjack had major antenna problems that didn't manifest for months down the line, so I'm very pessimistic that this one also will have latent problems.
Great WM6 phone, but even at $.01 not as good a value as iPhone. March 20, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
Changes in my job required me to get a phone that can synch with Outlook. My boss has the original Blackjack, and I've always admired it's looks, so this phone seemed like a good choice. It's got a nice screen, tons of features, it's red, and at $0.01 it's a steal!
Once I recieved the phone, however, I realized how limited Windows Mobile 6 is. Not in its features, necessarily, but in how you use it. I found it really annoying to have to scroll up and down all sorts of menus to do basic tasks like calendar, internet, email, etc. The home screen is crowded and kind of a pain to navigate, although it shows you info on tasks, appointments, email, etc without having to dig into menus.
I was also frustrated by the spin wheel. It's a GREAT idea, and when it worked it worked well, but a lot of the time I'd think I was spinning but nothing happened on-screen. After looking closely at it and doing some test-spins, I realized that the wheel sometimes just doesn't move. I think this is because the grooves on that are circular, around the center, instead of radial away from the center, so it doesn't give much purchase to your finger when you spin.
Anyway, I know these are minor annoyances, and if I was 10 years younger I'd probably appreciate all the opportunities having Windows on your phone provides, but at this point, I just want a phone that works, is easy to use, and gives me the internet, maps, email, text, and photos.
It turns out that the iPhone is actually a BETTER deal than this phone. The iPhone data plan is $20 / month and includes unlimited data and 200 sms. The equivalent plan for the Blackjack would come to $35 / month. Over a 2-year period, this comes to a $360 difference. The iPhone is $399. Kind of a no-brainer for me. I got an iPhone, and haven't looked back. (Except to write this review).
(OH BTW, they're now selling refurb iPhone 8GB for only $250! So you'd be actually saving money! Just a thought...)
EDIT: I forgot to mention the sync problems I had with this phone. I know it's not Samsung's fault, but the ActiveSync app kept crashing and I got really frustrated trying to troubleshoot the problem. I never did get it working reliably. On the other hand, iPhone? Plug-and-play, baby! I'm actually a little concerned about the fact that iPhone 2.0 will be utilising ActiveSync, I've never found that app to work as promised.
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