Samsung SGH I607 BlackJack

I use a BlackBerry 8700G from T-Mobile and decided to try the Blackjack. While I like the compact design, rubberized back and easy-to-type keys, the phone has problems. Battery drain is like a teenager downing 20 ounces of Coke. Verizon's Moto Q requires daily charging while T-Mobile's Dash has better than average battery drain. The Blackjack, however, especially when using Cingular's 3G network, barely lasts a day under normal voice/data use. Samsung includes TWO batteries plus a separate charger in the box and it's no wonder why. The center navigation button is too close to the end key; so when you press the Nav button to the right barely touching the end key, you're back at the main menu. There's a return button above the end button, similar to Sony Ericsson phones, taking you back one screen to compensate. The side trackwheel and back button, employing RIM's technology, compensates for the Blackjack's poorly designed front navigation buttons. The Blackjack's speaker distorts as you raise the volume and is too low in noisy environments. Fortunately, Samsung installed a true volume toggle on the left side of the device unlike T-Mobile Dash's quirky volume strip. Screen fonts are too small. So get your reading glasses out when you surf the web. The zoom control increases font sizes only marginally larger. To Samsung's credit, the Blackjack's browser displays true XHTML text and graphics as does the Dash. I experienced multiple data connection and server errors on Cingular's 3G/EDGE network especially when using "Cinguar Video," a streaming video program on CNN, ESPN and other websites offering mobile streaming. The video frequently froze for several seconds until the data buffer caught up. (Note that Cingular's 3G network is slower than Verizon and Sprint's EVDO broadband service.) Windows Media Player, as with other Blackjack programs, loads slowly. A faster processor found on Palm Treos and newer BlackBerry's would improve quicker application loading program switching. MS Exchange/Lotus Notes connectivity is problematic. After attempting to set up a connection to my company's MS Exchange server and resetting the Blackjack three times, the device failed to recognize the server. (No problems with my BlackBerry 8700 or the Dash.) The Blackjack's back panel becomes warm on longer phone calls--not as warm as some CDMA LG phones--but unpleasant unless you're trying to warm your frozen Winter hand in Fargo. (Suggest you use your bluetooth headset for longer calls.) For email downloading and synching, Cingular recommends its Xpressmail program. Installing Xpressmail for POP3 or IMAP accounts is straightforward. However, if you want to synchronize your device with an MS Exchange or Lotus Notes server, check with your IT department first. The grey numeric keys are spaced apart with black alpha/symbol keys between them, unlike the Dash' separate keypad with easier to read white keys, the Nokia E62 and other smartphones containing a normal keypad. After making several phone calls, I adapted to the Blackjack's keypad. To end on a positive, I LIKE this phone. It's compact like the Dash and many Sony Ericsson phones, offers fast download speeds, boasts terrific earpiece sound quality, offers a decent 1.3mp camera and typing on the keys is fast. 2/18/08 update: Tried BJ2. Longer battery life but same complaints about user key placement. Keys are too stiff to press and screen is too small. Check out the BlackBerry Curve.

I have had my Blackjack for many months now. My last phone was the 1st gen full QWERTY Blackberry, and I can saw without a doubt this is a much better phone for my life, and there are only a few small issues I can complain about. First and foremost as I said, this phone is a Blackberry for the non-suit wearing younger business person. It has all the PDA functionality of my Blackberry, plus many useful features to a younger person including full XHTML web browsing, music player, video capability, camera and video camera function, 2gig microSD support, etc. My email set-up with no problems, synching with my computer has been a breeze. Pulling music files via Bluetooth, and USB both has been super simple. Some people complain about battery life, but with two batteries and a car charger, I never have an issue. I change or charge ever couple days. The phone is loaded with a lot of useless pay-per-use Cingular content like ringtones, but hey, who uses that stuff?

As for issues... after using my Blackberry, I do not like the shift/function/alternate characters on this keyboard. On the Blackberry, hold a key a second or two and you get a capital letter... on the Blackjack you get the alternate key. Capitals require a shift key. It does automatically capitalize the first word after a period, but not the letter "I" alone. The number shift key stays on, even after you hit the space bar. I liked that the Blackberry would enter the @ symbol and "." in web and email addresses (in context of course)when you hit the space bar, the Blackjack doesn't. These are not issues, just things I would change.

I miss the Blackberry and Yahoo messengers; they were both real-time and were like a real messaging program showing who was online and when you received a message. These are not available for the Blackjack. I do love the web browser and 3G speed which were not available the Blackberry. I do find fault in the fact that the Java is limited and not available to upgrade from Cingular; I could not real-time bid in a live auto auction because of the limited Java support on this phone (this can be corrected with much digging and non-supported installs off the web :) ). This is not and iphone I know, but it is a nice alternative without a crappy touch keyboard! I would rather have the lack of Java and a good keyboard instead of having Java and the touchscreen of the iphone. The only other iphone option the Blackjack lacks is the ubercool email style voicemail.

I did buy a Motorola Bluetooth speaker for my truck to go with the phone... what a waste! The Bluetooth works fine, the speaker is junk. I did spend $6 on a supposed Samsung stereo dual earbud plug-in headset from Taiwan and love it - much better than the supplied mono headset. 2G Memory cards are cheap and you can fill them full of music, pics, and videos... beware, you can only have so many files in the main directory however before the cards appear to be locked for saving (use folders!).

My Cingular bill with unlimited text and media is cheaper than my Nextel bill was with media (or lack thereof), but its not as cheap as my friends iphone on cingular... but its close.

Overall I love the phone: great music, easy email, nice camera and video (no flash however), you can fill an encyclopedia of info about a person in the contacts, unit converter, easy program installs (like Yahoo! Go 2.0), multiple alarms, nice PDA functionality, easy to synch, RSS reader, etc!

I bought it to replace my T-Mobile sidekick. The internet service is good, but I turned it off because it's $30.00 extra per month. It's great mostly for texting and for taking pics/video. What I don't like is the fact that I frequently get dropped calls through the device. If I lean to hard with my ear, it either disconnects the call, and alot of times it disconnects on it's own. This, coming from the company that touts fewest dropped calls, has so far given me more dropped calls than any other carrier.

The Good:

The 3G-enabled Samsung BlackJack is sleek, has a gorgeous screen, and a full QWERTY keyboard. Highlights include Bluetooth 2.0, push e-mail capabilities, and good call quality. This Windows Mobile smart phone also comes with support for Cingular Video and Cingular Music services.


The Bad:

Navigation controls are cramped, and there is no integrated Wi-Fi. Certain applications take some time to load.


The Bottom Line:

The Samsung BlackJack heralds another 3G-enabled smart phone to Cingular's lineup. While it supports the carrier's video and music service, some design and performance issues trip up this otherwise sexy device.

Overall, I am pleased with this phone. It didn't take long to learn most of the functions that it has and I've now had it since January. It's nice to see that the price has come down substantially on it as I'm not sure I would have said it was worth the $400 that I paid for it. The camera takes great pics and video clips with good audio for a phone. The lcd is very clear and the battery lasts for days and I'm on it all the time. The keypad works very well even with my larger fingers and I rarely have an issue with hitting the wrong button or the button not pressing in as it should. The glass on the screen is hard to keep clean though but it is also very durable so there are some trade offs. The menu is easy to go through and the scroll button on the side makes searching through lists much easier. Accessing your voice mails, texts, and pics are also very easy. I recommend this phone to others as it is very stylish, compact for a smart phone, gets good reception, is unique compared to many other smart phones, and is a great value for the price.

Nice size but the keys are too small and too cramp together. Not easy to type. Consider Nokia e61, much better screen and easier to use.

fast shipping.
Good description.
smooth transaction.
everything was as the description said.
thanks for the business.

I've always wanted this phone, but never had the money to pay full price for it. This phone was surprisingly easy to use and figure out. The QWERTY keyboard was one of the main reasons I bought it, since I text more than I talk on the phone.

I love everything about it, it is user friendly and fun to use and is sleek and in great condition. The phone is clear when you call on it and tells you exactly what to do when you navigate from the home screen. The screen is clear and the camera takes great pictures so, I assume the video quality will be good even though I have not used it yet.

great shape!! couldnt ask 4 a better seller either!!! Love the slim body style and buttons!! Phone is very easy to use! I am not very smart with phones, but the Blackjack comes with a ready to use cd!! Alot of my friends rate this phone a 10 compared to the Propel!!

Great seller, product was what it was said to be. Very helpfull. Fast shipping. and comunication would buy from again.

I bought the Samsung Blackjack because I liked the fact that it has Windows Mobile, the design is slim and has a qwerty keyboard, and has 3G connectivity. I was very pleased with the Blackjack when I got it. The design is thin and it is comfortable to talk on. The screen is large for a phone and is beautiful. It also has bluetooth which makes it easy to use handsfree with my bluetooth headset.

I only have a few complains about the Blackjack and one is the closeness of the keyboard. Sometimes it's hard to press one key without other keys being entered.
When I select an application, there is sometimes a noticeable delay until it actually opens.
There is also no WiFi which can make it slower when downloading large web pages or anytime when transferring large amounts of data.

Overall, I think this is a great phone for anyone who wants to dip into the world of smartphones. You will not be disappointed.

I love this phone. It is the black jack. It takes good pictures plays my music pretty loud and the keyboard makes texting so much eisier than my old phone. The call quality is also great. It came to me in pretty good condition and it is all round a great phone.

This is a great phone for someone in high school or college. It takes good pictures, record videos, Windows Media Player, surf the internet. This is not a good phone for business use.

i love this phone especially since i upgraded to windows mobile six, it puts so much at my finger tips as far as access to email, editing word docs and excell doc, and the battery life is crazy

The phone is really great i like it so much, i just wish it was unlocked then i could used it even i travel outside US...

Shipped on time and was just what i wanted.I would buy again from seller.I like the blackjack cell phone style.

This phone came locked. If this happens to you , call Samsung. The number is located under the battery in you're phone.

wut i like the most about it is the full keyboard, camera, video and gps. the main reason i bought it is cuz i my battery on my RAZR would have to be charged 1-2 times a day which is not normal so instead of spending $75 om a battery i just bought a new phone needed one any ways had RAZR for over 2 years and it had taken a beating. the only thing i dislike about it is right before i got it i read a recall on it about the antanae wires coming loose and losing call or just simply not gettin them at all but not really sumthen to dislike about the phone its more of a concern.

First I have to say that I upgraded from a Blackberry a year ago. This may mean something as to how I feel about this phone. I found myself comparing it to the blackberry. I LOVED my blackberry. I was sucked into the hype of all the bells and whistles that the Blackjack has (and ther are alot). If you like that stuff then you will like this phone.
I found that after "playing" with them when I first got the phone, I never used most of them. The typing was nothing like my blackberry. I thought would get used to it, but I found myself not using it instead. I remember the days when I could type faster on my Blackberry then on a regular keyboard. That was nice.
Anyway, there is just something about it that i can't get used to. I want my blackberry back.

pros:
2 batterys
computer data cable
mp3s as ringtones
stereo bluetooth
durable
great for texting

cons:
horrible battery life
horrible camera and software
no flash(makes the pictures horrible)
bulky... like I carry a brick around
hard to dial numbers fast
navigation pad is hard 2 use

I really don't like this phone. Here is why:

Cons:

1. Buttons are very close together. Number buttons are easliy read if your not color blind though.

2. Ring tone is very low, I've missed tons of calls from this phone. Motorola has a very high ring tone.

3. I'm scared to death I'm going to drop this phone and crack the LCD. If you buy one, make sure you get a carrying case that wraps all the way around.

4. Battery life is low, although they do give you two batteries. One slim version and one larger version. Still with both batteries, the phone stay's on the charger half the day! They supply you with two batteries... there has to be something wrong with them doing that right?

5. Since is running windows mobile, sometimes its "choppy" when switching from one screen to the other. Like it doesn't have enough memory.

6. When in my pocket (or even coat pocket), if you don't have a case, you can accidently press buttons and make phone calls, or get on the Internet accidently and causing your phone company to charge you their rates for the period you were on there.

7. The phone supports G3 technology, which is supposed to be high speed Internet access. The phone company said they didn't know if it was avail in my area. When I got the phone, it wasn't. It takes a long time for the page to come up if your not on this service. Check with someone in your area that has this phone to see if G3 is in your area, and test their phone before you buy one. This isn't regading the phone, but websites are very hard to get around on with the small screen.

8. Battery cover is EXTREMELY hard to get off. I have two friends that have the blackjack phone and both of them say its very hard to get off. If you do have problems, make sure you use two thumbs 1/4 of the way across the battery cover to get them off to avoid breaking the battery cover.

I'm going to sell mine on ebay.

IF YOU FOUND THIS REVIEW HELPFUL, PLEASE VOTE IT HELPFUL. THANK YOU.

This is the first phone I have actually went and bought since I have been here on Ebay. I purchased this phone about a week ago, directly through the ATT and store. The phone is a nice size, compared to the thicker and heavier nextel type pda phones. If you like music, it has an excellent windows media player on it. I do recommend purchasing a pair of head phones for this unit, as the speaker phone type player is not quite loud enough. But so far this would be the only complaint that I have.