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Wow. How refreshing. After two years of incessant harangues and angry emails, it’s nice to see people smiling when they think of CrunchGear. As you recall, I have a pink BlackJack II from Samsung to give away to a female who can plead convincingly on camera. The resulting photos, which ranged from kind-hearted to downright nasty (Looking at you, Molly O), amused us all to no end. But there can only be one BlackJack II winner and she is…

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CrunchGear, I’m afraid, wants to steal your honey like it stole your bike. To that end, we’re encouraging you to submit a snap of your sig. other/sister/mom/grandma/the woman in marketing/yourself if you are one of CrunchGear’s 2 female readers (Hi, Mom!) pleading for a new cellphone. Which cellphone you ask, and how can I get in on this action? Read on.

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Windows Mobile 6 users on certain devices may have noticed that their homescreen calendars didn’t automatically sync up with that pesky extra day at the end of last month, leap year being as it is, we had 29 days in February.

There’s a patch out, so if you’re an ACE, or BlackJack, or BlackJack II user, you’ll want to download it now.

This only affects a handful of devices, and only the homescreen; the actually calendar is fine.

FIX: Samsung BlackJack, BlackJack II and ACE Leap-Year Calendar patch available [The Unwired]

Not content to corner the market in world-changing Nextel phones, Sprint has got its greasy paws on the Samsung ACE, a rebranded — and improved — Blackjack with EV-DO and a separate SIM card slot for world support.

The phone runs Windows Mobile 6 and has a 2.3-inch color screen and QWERTY keyboard. Interestingly enough, during testing in Barcelona we discovered that the ACE can’t text using the SIM chip, something Sprint is probably scrambling to fix right now. To prevent you from jumping off Sprint’s network while you travel, the company supplies an “unlocked” SIM card for use in the phone:

A Sprint-provided SIM card is provided pre-installed in the device for
customers who wish to utilize Sprint International Roaming Services (special activation
required) while traveling abroad. Customers may also take advantage of the unlocked SIM
which allows the device to accept an in-market international carrier’s SIM for voice and data
services.

Sly devils. It also runs Sprint TV and On-Demand and includes a 1.3-megapixel camcorder. Finally, you can connect the phone to your PC as a wireless modem. Why is it called the Ace and not the Blackjack Sprintino? It seems AT&T has the corner on the Blackjack market which precludes others from using the name.

Time to upgrade that dinosaur of an OS on your Samsung BlackJack to a less than tolerable version 6. That’s right, today at 5PM EST you’ll be able download the official upgrade, but don’t go there now because it still has version 5. Wait until 5PM EST, k?

Don’t do it until 5

Sammy, the “internal Samsung mascot,” enlists two lovely ladies to help him unbox the Blackjack II, available from AT&T. Coup de craw!

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It may surprise some of you to read this, especially from me, but I must say it: Not everyone is going to need an iPhone. Sure, I’m stoked as anyone to get my hands on one, but I’m not sold that it’s the do-all some people are hyping it up to be (not Apple, btw). Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s an industry-changing device the likes of which we haven’t seen since the StarTAC, but is it right for everyone? And, more to the point, is it right for me? The jury’s still out. Until I’ve had the chance to play with one, to work it over, to caress it gently in my rough hands, I won’t know for sure. What I do know, though, is that despite the hype, the iPhone (no, I won’t be calling it “Jesus Phone”) isn’t the only game in town. And like it or not, you’re ready for a real smartphone.

That’s the focus of today’s Help-Key: How to get your smartphone on, the non-Apple way.

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Rumor has it that Cingular is pushing out Blackjack updates in June which will allow Samsung’s slim smartphone to run Windows Live and all the other goodies that WinMo 6 has to offer.

I’ve already installed 6 here at CG labs — my basement — so expect a full report this week. Otherwise, Blackjack users stay vigilant. Or maybe find some hacked WinMo 6 out there and install it yourself.

BlackJack WM6 Update: Q3 at best [WMExperts via BGR]

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Product Page [via Mobility Today]

Consumer Benefits from AT&T-BellSouth Merger Continue with 3G Wireless Phone Offers [Mobile Burn]

We just received a tip that Samsung Blackjack’s are now shipping with both a regular battery and an extended battery. I sent an email to Samsung PR and they were unable to confirm this, but according to our tipster he ordered two Blackjacks from Cingular and both of them had one extended battery included with it.

Has anyone else had this experience?

(Thanks Zack!)

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Because it looks like they plastered Grey’s star Katherine Heigl with a Blackjack all over the place. Not that it’s a bad thing.

…and yes, I love me some Grey’s Anatomy.

SlingMedia let drop today SlingPlayer Mobile for Smartphones (v1.0.5) and for PocketPC (v1.1). In addition to several bug fixes and tweaksm the smartphone edition features support for the Samsung Blackjack and the T-mo Dash. You can try it out for free for 30 days and after that it’ll cost you $30.

Download [via Zatz via Gizmodo]

Rejoice! Our pal David Ciccone wrote in to tell us that Samsung has dropped a new and improved battery for the Blackjack. It ups the power from 1200mAh to 1800mAh.

If you’ll recall, the battery was the only real drawback I could find with the Blackjack. Samsung includes two battery and an external charger with the device, but it’s a bit of a hassle.

The new battery adds some meat to the body, but I’d reckon it’s irrelevant. If it redeems the one shortcoming of the Blackjack, I’m definitely on-board. Dunno the details on where to get it, but I expect we’ll see it circulating soon.

Flickr Photo Set [via Mobility Today]

There is almost exactly two hours until we give away the Samsung Blackjack. You all have been commenting furiously and for that I commend you. But that doesn’t mean you should slack off now. There is time yet. You could win. Decisions have not been made! So comment like the wind and win your very own Samsung Blackjack.

You have until 5PM EST.

Oh and if you enjoy CrunchGear, please be sure to favorite us on Technorati: http://technorati.com/blogs/http://crunchgear.com.

Argh. Sorry for the delay in announcing these, everyone. We’ve been having some technical difficulties and I wanted to give people the night to respond on yesterday’s pieces.

I’ve got 11 winners for you here. Jon, who won on the day 01, graciously gave up his copy because he didn’t have an iPod or a PSP. Anyway, make the jump to learn if you’ve won: Read More

Meet my new favorite phone. The Samsung Blackjack from Cingular is a veritable wunderkind amongst the sea of comparatively ordinary competitors. Not only will it turn heads every time you whip it out, but it’ll outperform any other smart phone in the building, block, neighborhood, etc.
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