I might as well just give up. As I’ve made clear before, I don’t like Windows Mobile. It’s an aesthetic choice as much as technical one, but what the hell do I know. I’m just a blogger. So with that in mind, I present the inestimable Cingular Blackjack, a feature-rich super-slim Windows Mobile 5.0 smartphone for the masses.
The Blackjack— like the T-Mobile Dash, Trace, and Fluffernutter, is Cingular’s latest attempt at getting in on the one-name thing. It’s a slim, black smartphone with a 1.3-megapixel camera. It runs on Cingular’s UMTS/HSDPA 3G network, but what does this mean? It means that web browsing and email downloads are lightning fast, in the areas that currently support that technology.
I broke my cellular fast and tried the phone in Manhattan where response time was excellent, about 700kbps. In Brooklyn, where we’ve only got EDGE, I hit about 2kbps on a good day, which is a considerable drop. This goes to show the value of a good 3G network and the paucity of EDGE and GPRS data streams. If you’re in an area with UMTS and depend on your smartphone for data, mail, and web downloads, the Blackjack performs quite admirably.
The keyboard was designed using some of the Blackberry patents, which means Samsung was able to use RIM’s slanted key design. Most of the pertinent keys are in all the right places—a home key and back key at both ends of the keyboard along with a center track wheel. There is also a back button under the right scrollwheel which also acts as a clicker. There are volume controls on the left side and a power button on the top.
At about 3.5 ounces, the phone is surprisingly light, and the back panel is clad in a rubber material for a better grip. The screen is quite bright and readable and the default icon format, with four big applications along the top of the screen and a bit of message and call data underneath, is very readable. Battery life was impressive with about three days on standby and about 20 hours of regular usage including calls and extensive web browsing/email reading.
The Blackjack is aimed at the business professional, that much is clear. It includes links to Cingular’s XPress secure email and calendar syncing service along with Good Mobile Messaging. It also includes Cingular Video and Cingular Music, the company’s two media services, but neither were really working correctly during our tests except for streaming XM radio. Because most of the URLs it connected to involved “blackjack” in the name, I suspect Cingular is holding those until the official launch.
The phone includes 128MB of flash memory and a microSD slot for expansion. It supports POP/IMAP mailboxes along with Outlook Mobile push email. It will eventually have PTT capabilities, once these are rolled out on Cingular’s network. It also includes a basic IM application that supports AIM, Yahoo! Messenger and MSN.
On the whole, I can recommend the Blackjack over a similarly outfitted Moto Q or Nokia E62 without 3G speed. It is easy to use, ergonomic and light. The 2004-2005 fiscal year was a tough for Samsung, with a focus on low-end models that really didn’t win any prizes for looks or functionality. Phones and devices like the Blackjack, thankfully, signal a considerably different era for Samsung. Windows Mobile won out as the main mobile OS, so I can hardly fault the phone on that account.
If you’re looking for a way to breeze through web pages, email, and some basic office applications, take a closer look at the Blackjack. It’s available from Cingular for $199 with a two year contract.
Is this the “exciting new product” we were told about on Friday? I’m just wondering if I should be expecting another phone announcement today.
nope. that’s it
nothing screams middle management more than a wonky blackberry / clone
hopelessly tethered to emails, so sad, and unhip.
windows mobile disqualifies any likeability OS wise.
its thin which is nice
overall the form factor could be more appealling
the best smartphone is still an unlocked nokia e 61 (not the crippled e62)
My impression of this phone after fondling it for a few minutes is…meh. I don’t like windows mobile os and this phone is nothing special. Other than the pluses that John wrote about there isn’t much more to this phone that would make me want to buy it. But then again Windows mobile os is a red flag for me anyways.
Why do you like the Blackjack better than the Q. I have the Q and other than normal Windows issues, the phone is rock solid for voice, e-mail and messaging and I have 1 gig of music on it. Is is worth switching to Cingular for this device? I have great EVDO coverage in Altanta, so not sure what you mean in your comments. Thanks.
Mike
AAM – I’m going to guess that you’re a bitter engineer who aspires to be middle management. Some people just like the convenience of having their email available without having to fire up a laptop. No need to hate on them. Hater.
AAM – man, are you bitter? Did you get passed over for promotion? Some folks don’t use the messaging phones for work, but for personal life. Get a grip. Stop the hate. Love your neighbor.
The phone looks basic enough to work for me, plus the ammendities. professional yet not boring. i fux with it.
4/5 Rating
Er, maybe us lowly Q / Blackjack consider-ers don’t have the spare $150 – 200 to throw down on something more “hip”. (Count me in with that group — we the second-class “wonkies” with our wannabe blackberries, who still want to jot the occasional note, or see where it is we’re supposed to be that day.)
…or maybe we’re just not cool enough to hang with the elitist MS-hating-’cuz-it’s-cool kids. Sob sob.
Does anyone know how the vibrate function on the BlackJack is? Is it powerful enough to feel if wearing it on a belt clip? Thanks in advance for the help.
Can you install gtalk on it?
Does anyone feel that it is a good switchover from the Blackberry 8700c to the Blackjack??
I just got Verizon to release me from my contract because the LG9800 on the Verizon system would not perform as promised… I don’t want to make another mistake… Will this get my mail and attachments and let me make hotel reservations without opening my laptop???
I’m interested in the Q, Dash and BlackJack so I can run my life a little better. I want something that will give me the abilities of a palm pilot (calendar, things-to-do, Home Depot lists, contacts), a phone, an MP3 player and a picture viewer for showing off the kids and stuff, and maybe view the occasional video I make too. Personally, I’m not interested in getting e-mail (especially work mail).
Am I asking too much from one device? Does anyone have any thoughts about these devices being able to do all of these things reasonably well?
Why not get a Treo? I adore mine, and it does all of the above, including mail, though you don’t want it now, you might want it later…
Why Blackjack over a Treo – the Blackjack is the only 3G PDA/smartphone offered by a GSM network right now… meaning no Treo (unless you’re on Sprint or Verizon) is going to have the super-fast internet speeds
Why Blackjack over a Q/Dash etc. – the Dash is not 3G (see above). If you want a world phone, then you want the Blackjack over the Q (Verizon does not have international roaming – most other countries operate on GSM)
In sum: I recommend the Blackjack because it’s not too pricey ($199 with 2yr contract), it does music/pictures/video, it’s a PDA, it’s a world phone, it’s stylish, and it’s 3G
AAM,
I just returned my e62 (which only differs from the e61 by wifi and a TINY amount of ram) because of the utter uselessness of it.
If it takes me 20 minutes to read 10 email messages, then there is a significant problem with the phone. Contrast this to my current Treo/ChatterEmail setup where I can read 10 emails in about 1 minute or less.
While it’s very attractive, the e61 sucks as a smartphone. (if anyone cares to read more about my experience, click on my name.. I posted more about it on my personal site.)
About the Blackjack- I’m ordering one next week. It has been a while since I’ve used WM (my old device was an SMT5600), but I expect it will do what I need to and look good doing it.
If you need something more full featured, go with a Treo 650/680 on Cingular (the 700 series on Verizon/Sprint support EVDO) or a Cingular 8525 if you need/want 3G.
Also, if you a) don’t have exchange or b) don’t have a blackberry server or c) have more than one account that you want “pushed”, you should definitely consider a Palm-based Treo with CatterEmail (which supports multiple IMAP Idle accounts which act like push email accounts), or Flexmail for WM devices (currently only available for PocketPC versions of WM, but a Smarphone version in Beta).
the Blackjack is the only offered by a GSM network right now… meaning a ja (unless you’re on enterbet) is going to have the super-fast internet speeds
promotions blackjack
About the Blackjack is one of the most cool games and the phone as well.
http://www.enterbet.com
One of the ’stealth’ smartphones that nobody seems to know about but which has had many of the features that are only now being touted by others for over 2 years was the Audiovox SMT 5600 – Windows mobile (which btw is the best mobile os having seen and used the tired old palm os, and the crap that comes with the nokias, blackberrys and motorolas), mini SD, camera, blacktooth, multiband GSM which allowed me to use it all over the world… Its replacement, branded by Cingular as 2125 is even better, granted, it uses EDGE, with a 1.3 mp camera and Windows Mobile 5. Best of all, both use T9 which is way faster for text inputing than QWERTY which is absurd in that form factor. Check it out – I love it and I think you might too.
I’m a programmer that has a bb 8700. I’m changing over to the blackjack.
while I’m not a not a big fan of windows mobile, Rim makes it very hard to write software for it’s devices. (and I’m a certified rim developer)
rim wont release the api’s to allow us to write good software.
I spent way to much time writing a student tracking app for the blackberry.
did the same app under the windows mobile software in a 1/4 of the time.
the rim device would just not let me do the same same stuff. and it was because of no access to the rim api’s.
nope, it’s a blackjack for me…
“Best of all, both use T9 which is way faster for text inputing than QWERTY which is absurd in that form factor.”
Sounds like fat finger typing to me.
Does anyone know wheather this device will support Good Link? Since moving companies I have been forced to use devices that only support Good Link. I currently use the 8125, good phone, but bulky for my taste.
Thanks,
I just got the blackjack, and wow does it run well. Not only is the music of beautiful quality out of the speaker, but the email and web runs so fast its not funny. Im not even in a 3G network, and as long as I have signal, my email and web runs in seconds. The only downsides is the fact there is only the ability to VIEW work, powerpoint, and such. Not actually write it. Either way, its thin and bright. It is very easy to use and set up, and works almost automatically with gmail, yahoo, and a few other email servers. No stylus, but tons of fun for the person that wants almost all of it on there phone.
I have a BlackJack and I absolutely love it! The service works fast and is great – I have had no dropped calls or anything, although the top of the device does tend to get hot on long calls – which sucks. My only complaint is (big surprise here) the customer service with Cingular. I bought my phone in a mall (not at a Cingular Reseller, though) and the salesman gave me the $19.99 media 200 package with the phone, stating that I needed to buy it to use the phone. I thought, “OK, well, I know dataplans are expensive but this is cheap enough for me…” so I bought it (and downgraded my TV for the extra money towards Cingular ;) )
COME TO FIND OUT that that plan IS NOT “compatible” with the phone, although the service works almost flawlessly and I haven’t been billed for anything other than what I should be billed for. How upset am I that a salesman purposely sold me a cheaper, “non compatible” service to me (just to get the sale)? EXTREMELY! How surprised am I that it happened in the first place? …not very. Cingular is known for nothing but whoreanus customer service, and I would like to add on top of that that I have NOT had one full month go by since they bought AT&T that I have not had to call Customer Service and complain about wrong billing.
Thanks to my friend who used to work at Cingular for the tip about the bundles… otherwise I would have been audited by Cingular in a few weeks,/months and would probably not be informed of the price change, and I would probably also owe them backpay for it.
If they don’t give me what I was sold I’m cancelling my service altogether and getting a lawyer. Cingular is perhaps the worst company on the face of the earth.
Has anyone else been sold this package? If so, you might want to contact Cingular and protest it. (Don’t give in!)
Phone = A+
(customer) Serivce = F—–
I have a question for those of you who currently own a Blackjack. Is there “Voice Command/Dialing” on this handset? I’ve been ready the reviews and specs and have found some inconsistencies in what’s being reported. This is a rather important feature for me as I use “Voice Dialing” during my commute via my Bluetooth headset.
I have just purchased the Blackjack, still learning about all of the features. I am actually looking to use this as an alternative to purchasing a cingular PC Card and adding to my existing plan. Question is: can I link with the phone using the USB cable/or blutooth? Secondly, can I count on comparable speed though this type of connection?
Thanks for any feedback
Does anyone know if the Blackjack use Documents to Go? That is a very important feature for me. I often work on the plane and download the Word file to my Treo 650. Then the minute I land I can e-mail my work to my client.
is the treo blackjack a good pda?how mutch is it money wiz
i have a black jack and its amazing and comes to meet all my stanards so fuck all you guys who like the q or dash more
Not bad! Good looking phone. I like the Blackberry looks too. I had 5 Blackberrys including 2 of the 8700c. Dont care for the blackberrys but this Blackjack is probably a plus! I now have the htc 8125. Its my 3rd one. Kind of tired of it and its repeting problems. Blackjack is no close match to the 8125 cause it dont have WI-FI. Thats a beautiful invention that wi-fi. but i need something with super high speed web surfing! For the price, just might get the Blackjack. looks like a keeper!!
david….i saw your post bout asking to dump your 8700 for the black jack!! well man, i had 4 8700’s and cant stand them. problems after problems! nice looking phone, ok data speed but NO WINDOWS MOBILE! thats a huge upgrade that the blackjack has. i have the htc 8125 with windows 10, never tried windows 5 but im sure its a great pick for you. besides Dave, you do want to keep in mind that the blackjack is brand new and might have some bugs in it, i would wait a bit, checks some owners remarks and then judge, also keep in mind that Cingular offers a handset exchange for 1WHOLE YEAR after you buy it, any prob with it, you get another by mail in 2 or 3 days. its great to have that warrenty for free!!!!!………….jerry
i love the black jack i think its a very good phone and i love the way it looks! i think its amazing and all that jazz!
*See name
Things that are funky: I/O covers; battery cover; battery life sucks – that’s why they give you 2>>>>>Email: 1 on a scale of 10. 1 being the lowest. Treo Software blows this email off the map. There is nothing good I can say about the email program or the reliability of send/deliver. Cingular support is non-existant, question whether they know what they are selling.>>>>IM: Marginal>>>>Windows 5.0: Is limited edition, not very functional and was unable to get Skype to work. Added Application availability is limited.>>>>I am going back to TREO!
i just got the blackjack two days ago, i havent had any problems with it other than the battery life, it dosent even last a day with out having to be charged. the internet works amazing in Oxnard, CA the phone is faster than my reg computer which is a cable modem….over all i would recommend it.
Just an FYI for blackjack users, be sure on disable incoming IR beams and your battery life will double. This is the first thing I do on any WM device but seems to really help on teh blackjack.
After MONTHS and MONTHS of research, I finally took the plunge and got the Blackjack (I had tried the Nokia 62 for a few days a while back and it just felt too clunky in my hands, which made me miss my RAZR, so I returned it).
I have to say that I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer when it comes to gadgetry-type stuff, so I am pleased to say that I have had this phone for less than 24 hours and I already LOVE it, without reservation. I run my own business and I needed to be up and running on my Outlook calendar immediately – No problem – it took just a few minutes and I was/am good to go. I transferred some music files out of my Media Player – Took up all the memory so now I have a 1 gig Sandisk memory thingy on the way – you can get these on Amazon in “bulk” and save a lot of money that way.
Then I watched some videos – the quality is simply AMAZING! I really couldn’t believe it. This is also my first time on Windows Mobile; for me, I find it friendly and intuitive and I am having absolutely no issues whatsoever. I also just set myself up on Bluetooth, again, without anyone’s help, and Et Voila! I am up and running on that as well, and it only took a few minutes.
I am aware that this phone has many, many features to discover so it should keep me happy and busy for the two years on my new contract exploring what all is loaded into this puppy; also,
PLEASE NOTE: Cingular now has the new Blackjacks with EXTENDED BATTERY LIFE. This is the one I got. So thus far absolutely no battery issues what-so-ever; I am letting it run out of its charge to see how long this larger battery lasts with extended use. You also get the slim backup battery with separate back cover for times you want the phone to be as slim and light as possible – I am glad I waited to get the phone as I was concerned about the battery issues I was reading about, – this new battery should solve that problem for good.
I will post any unpleasant experiences I have with this phone, but so far I could not be any happier or more pleased – I HIGHLY recommend this phone – at least try it for 30 days – you will be glad you did!
Ummmmmm, Rebecca. Are you a AT&T/Cingular employee plant? “So thus far absolutely no battery issues whatsoever.”
Dear Rebecca:
If you’ve had the unit for less than 24 hours (which is what you said at the beginning of your description), then why the hell WOULD you have an problems? You haven’t even had the damn thing long than a day yet.
The question is: Is it a good buy? Would you buy the Blackjack?
Hmmm, Black jack great phone for the novice. However I use this for business. We use Goodlink for Outlook exchange integration. Currently when I go to type an email it alwys types the wrong letter when looking up contacts. I must type and backspacce to erase unti lthe correct letter appears. This is a real problem. As far as batteries they give you two, I use two every day. I have never made it a full day yet including days off. The contacts in Goodlink can not be used to SMS, so I must duplicate conacts on the SIM card to use them for SMS purposes. For a Windows machine that is dissapointing. The G3 is great and that is why I am accepting of using 2 batteries per day.
I’m almost 18 years old and have been eyeing the BlackJack since it came out. I won’t be using it for business or anything, just for fun. So my question is, is it worth the 200 dollars? Thanks!
you guys are such bitches! if you want a phone that does a ton of shit, then go with your goddamn treo! stop posting bad reviews of how it doesnt do this or doesnt do that! its an EXCELLENT phone for average users who dont need to send out 50 emails on it every day. use a goddamn computer. a phone is for talking and texting, nothing more. if you want your fancy emailing programs, then use a treo or whatever. quit bitching.
Is BlackJack good for deaf people ? Need
Aol im Yahoo Im for relay Like TDD
Deaf people love BlackJack
If BlackJack can do for deaf people then
I will buy it
I have sidekick but I do not like it
There no video
I have my Blackjack with Goodlink on it. How do I set it up so that it recognizes my Outlook contacts (through Goodlink) when I receive calls or text messages?
Did you ever get a response to this? I’m having the same problem & it’s driving me crazy. Thanks, Marc (marcb@emeraldfund.com)
The Blackjack is amazing, I found a community dedicated to the phone. Check it out if you have one http://www.myblackjackphone.com
I LOVE this phone.
I have my company jabber IM running and msn messenger with agile messaging, so I am always in contact.
I can link my Laptop to it and get great speed.
i have my e-mail / calender synced through a program from my e-mail server.
I get full weather reports with maps.
I have driving directions with GPS and also Google Maps running.
1.3 megapixel camera is handy, actually takes pictures worth sending to someone.
Full web browser that actually works.
I can watch videos off TinyTube.net with no problem, although the Cingular Music / Video never works, but that is because of Cingulars servers and not the phone.
I have noticed it freeze slightly for a moment or too, but found it was because it was downloading my e-mail & syncing over the net at the time. no big deal.
I LOVE THIS PHONE.
How does the Blackjack compare to the Cingular 8525? Can you actually write work on the 8525?
Can I put picture on my wallpaper?
I just purchased a BLACKJACK, it came with two batteries. I can NOT seem to get the back cover off of the BLACKJACK to swap Batteries. I understand that the BlackJack now ships with an extended life battery because teh regular battery is inadequate. Is there a secret to removing the back case coverint the battery compartment?
I think that the blackjack is an awsome phone I have a razer which on is
better? what does this technoligy cost?And I agree with yokken or what ever!
ps:why does the phone have to be so skinny???!!!
I liked the cell phones from the 70’s phones better!!!!!!!!