Try as they might, Samsung and AT&T attempted to keep the Blackjack II under wraps, but something always surfaces, which is the case with the Blackjack II. The highly anticipated next-generation Blackjack is significantly improved over its predecessor. Take your pick between red wine and slick black, I’d suggest the red wine because it has a textured feel sort of like faux leather, but it feels great and doesn’t smudge like the soft-touch Blackjack. It boasts a full QWERTY keyboard (much better then the first one) and a 2.4-inch QVGA display with a jog dial. But the fun doesn’t stop there.
Packed with a slew of AT&T services, the Blackjack II is sure to keep you entertained wherever you go. AT&T Video Share has found its way into the Samsung mobile making it the first ‘business-oriented’ device to feature the live video sharing service. A built-in GPS ensures you never get lost. It even has global phone capabilities and surprisingly the Tri-band 3G UMTS/HSDPA and quad-band EDGE/GPRS device even works in South Korea. The camera is bumped up from 1.3-megapixels to 2-megapixels with a bump in memory as well. Other notable features include an RSS reader client and improved battery capacity plus a better speakerphone. It’s also one of the first Windows Mobile 6 devices to support Microsoft’s System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008, but that won’t roll out until Q2 of 2008.
The Blackjack II will begin shipping sometime before the end of the year (maybe Turkey Day, but doubtful) with a $149.99 price tag.
iPhone, it ain’t.
I understand that everything now has to be compared to the iphone but…people should really quit with the snarky one sentence iphone comments, not everyone wants one.
Tri-band 3G UMTS/HSDPA but not front camera for video calls?
Who said anything about the iPhone?! Oh, Marvin did.
I’m with Damien on this. I’ll be the first to admit that the iPhone is one heck of a device, but not everything should be compared to it. The BlackJack II included. They don’t have the same form factor, operating system or features.
You don’t see auto reviewers comparing sedans to heavy duty trucks do you? Cellphones are similar. Different types stand alone in their own categories and a Windows Mobile smartphone isn’t in the same category as a multimedia phone.
–Travis Hudson, MWW Group on behalf of Samsung
I couldn’t agree more (and by that I mean with TH). I had a Blackjack and currently have an iPhone. It’s apples/oranges. The Blackjack was far more effective for business purposes. The iPhone, while nifty in many ways, falls short. And as beautiful as the iPhone is, it is a bit of a pain to have to use so many finger strokes for actions, which on other devices, take only one. I have no doubt that the iPhone will continue to evolve and become more spectacular. But little things like the today screen and ability to see emails, calendar, etc. on a single screen, is actually very useful. And I actually prefer a tactile keyboard to a touch, no matter what anyone says.
You know how I can tell it’s not an iPhone?
It’s compatible with my corporate email system.
is the gps navigation ran by the internet on the black jack 2
The phone has been great, the improvements over the BJ1 are impressive. Don’t get me wrong, there are still some things that could be made better, but overall it’s a good buy, especialy if a mobile email solution is calling your name.
I’ve got sample pictures and videos from the phone here for anyone who is curious:
http://www.4tay.com/blogs/Adam_Parker/Samsung_Blackjack_2_-_Review/1/1/688/
1st of all, why is everything compared to the stupid Iphone. It might be a good phone and all but get over it! So what you can get youtube and all that other junk, but if you have a computer you can do it just as fast with better sound, color, and speed. If you take that away your left with just a phone with a touch screen, no video capturing, ugly phone.
does the inbox for text messages ever get full?
The iphone is pretty cool but figure in a few years something else will outdate it, thats just how technology works.