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Reviewer : Chris Leckness
Vendor : AT&T
Price : $99 with rebates and contract

Last year, I reviewed the Samsung BlackJack. When it was released, it was one of the thinnest phones out there. It followed up the Motorola Q and was quite the contender. The main problem with the original BlackJack was the battery life. It was awful. Does the BlackJack II improve on that? Well, it’s got a 1700 mah battery this time around, so I would hope so.

Introducing the triple threat – the Blackjack II by Samsung. It’s sleeker, smarter, and easier to use than ever. With Windows Mobile 6, faster 3G downloads, a larger 2.4″ display, and a stylish look, it’s the device all other smart devices want to be. It supports multiple email programs and has AT&T Music and Cellular Video capabilities. Navigate easily with the front jog wheel. Roam internationally with quad-band GSM, or get ultra-fast downloads with tri-band HSDPA. Take pictures and video with the 2 MP camera, listen to music, and stay in touch with instant messaging. With a full QWERTY keyboard and GPS support, the Blackjack II truly has it all!

I have to agree, the BlackJack II has everything I desire except for a touchscreen. I have to mention this in everyone review… I love Windows Mobile.  I just enjoy the power of Windows Mobile. I do struggle from day to day with what the best form factor for me is. Sometimes I think it’s the Smartphone, then tomorrow it might be Pocket PC phones with touchscreens. Either way, I really like a full qwerty keyboard and one handed usability. The BlackJack II has both of these.

WHAT’S IN THE BOX

• BlackJack II
• 1700mah Battery
• AC Charger
• USB Sync Cable/Charger
• Getting Started Guide
• Quick Start Guide

If this video doesn’t play for you, try here.

THE DESIGN

I fell in love with the Original BlackJack last year and this one didn’t change much, so it’s not as exciting to me anymore. It’s still a very thin, well laid out device. The demo unit I tested came in the most beautiful crimson red, more like a maroon, but I am an Alabama Fan so I have to call it Crimson.

The design of the BlackJack II is not changed much from the Original BlackJack. Why should they? The BlackJack was wildly popular because of it’s slim form factor and great layout, not to mention really well priced while still running Windows Mobile. The Original BlackJack was running Windows Mobile 5 and still hasn’t seen an upgrade to Windows Mobile 6. The BlackJack II comes with 6.

The rubbery feel of the BlackJack I is gone with the II. Instead it’s slick and has a bunch of shiny parts. They look great, but ask iPod owners, it may not be worth it. They chrome looking finishing attract fingerprints and the over all feeling of the unit feels less secure in my hands.

I don’t have my old BlackJack anymore, but trust me when I tell you that the layout hasn’t really changed much here. The Dpad was changed into a scroll wheel in addition to still functioning as a Dpad, the keys were pulled in a tad closer and some buttons welcome buttons were added in the bottom row of keys.

On the front of the device, you have the speaker just above the Samsung Logo. To the right and slightly above that is the multicolor led indicator that flashes several indications for you. Below that logo is a nice 2.4″ 320×240 resolution screen. Beneath the screen, you will find the dpad in the center. To each side of the dpad are the softkeys. They correspond with the menus on the screen just above them to navigate the device menus. To the right of the right soft key is the back button. To the left of the left softkey is the home button. Underneath the left soft key and the home button is the call button. Jumping to the other side of the dpad is the hang up/end button.

Just under that is the keyboard. It’s a full qwerty keyboard with caps lock and function buttons to use the same keys x2 for even more characters. If you need to access a character that’s not on the keyboard, just hold down the space bar and you get a nice selection, including smilies. The keys are small, but quite usable. Added to the BlackJack II are a couple mapped buttons to quickly take you to applications like email, camera, and even an AT&T button that takes you online.

On the right edge, you will see that fancy chrome finish and only the MicroSD slot.

Here is an 8GB MicroSD card hanging out of this slot. These covers are nice to protect the slot, but can be difficult to open.

On the left edge, you have the proprietary connector that I hate so much. I hate that it’s proprietary as well as it’s location. This weird location makes it almost impossible for a 3rd party company to produce a cradle for it. Just above this connector, which does syncing, headphones, and charging, is the volume up and down button.

On top, you have the power button and you can see part of the internal speaker.

COMPARISON SHOTS

Dell Axim x51v

  
Palm Treo 750

iPhone

Nokia N95

AT&T Tilt

Top to bottom : iPhone, Motorola Q, Motorola RAZR, Palm Treo 750, i-mate SPL, BlackJack II, and Nokia N95.

TECHNICAL SPECS

• Weight: 3.52 ounces
• Dimension: 4.4 x 2.3 x. 0.4 inches
• Talk Time: Up to 7 hours
• Standby Time: Up to 14 days
• Tri-band domestic UMTS/HSDPA – 850/1900/2100 MHz
• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE – 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
• Microsoft Windows Mobile 6
• 256 MB ROM / 128 MB RAM
• Large 2.4″ 320×240 65k color LCD screen
• microSD(TM) expansion slot supports up to 4 GB (I tested an 8GB card and it worked)
• Bluetooth v2.0 for up to six simultaneous connections

FEATURES
The BlackJack comes with all the features you expect from a Windows Mobile Smartphone. The difference between a Pocket PC Phone and Smartphone is basically the touchscreen, which changes the way you interact with the device a ton. Folks coming from a regular feature phone will make the transition much easier I believe.

Phone
As is the cases with most Windows Mobile Smartphones i’ve used, the BlackJack II excelled as a phone. More bars and in more places than the Pocket PC phone for the most part. The call quality is perfect. A cell phone should be a cell phone first, but that’s not always the case with fancy phones. This one is a phone first.

One of the things I like most about Windows Mobile phones is the inherent ability to seamlessly sync with Exchange Server. Messaging is one of the BlackJack II’s strong points for me. One handed, I can read, reply, and manage my email, tasks, and contacts. Replying is a tad faster is you take the effort to use to hands, but I do just fine one handing all this.

Bluetooth
No much to say here except that it just works. I paired a couple Bluetooth headsets with ease.

Camera
All in all, not a bad camera at all. The camera is a 2 Megapixel camera and has a digital zoom and other basic camera phone features. I have taken some decent photos with it. Using Flickr, I uploaded a few snapshots to my personal blog with ease. Here are a couple samples I shot with the BlackJack II camera. These were taken with all of the settings at their default settings. (click them for full version)

GPS
I have to admit, I did not utilize the built in GPS during this review. From talking with friends and reading up on the BlackJack II, it sounds as if it performs just fine. I haven’t even used my own Tilt’s GPS yet either. I would recommend shopping around for a GPS application before you decide on the built in subscription based service though. You can purchase and install 3rd party applications that do not require a monthly charge.

Multimedia
The BlackJack II comes with Windows Media Player built in and offers great playback of digital tunes I loaded up. It also come with a trial of the XM satellite radio mobile application. Both sounded great with earphones. The speaker is ok for use as a speaker phone, but I am not interested in listening to music over a small internal speaker.

Software
Other than Windows Mobile 6, there is nothing really impressive built in to the AT&T BlackJack II. There are a ton of trial programs and game, but you’ll want to remove all that for sure. With Windows Mobile 6, you get Office Mobile which is very nice to have since you can now edit documents. There is an IM client for AOL, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo too.

PERFORMANCE
The BlackJack II has a 260 MHZ Processor, 256 MB ROM, and 128M MB RAM. Comparing this to the original BlackJack, they have doubled the memory and upgrade the processor a bit. It might look like a weak processor by the numbers, but I am here to tell you that it is NOT slow at all. I didn’t have any slow downs running applications and video played back just fine. Once again, comparing it to the original BlackJack, it’s not much faster, but it’s still fast enough to run programs I threw at it without any noticeable performance issues.

Battery Life
One of the biggest complaints about the original BlackJack was the battery life. It was acceptable, but if you had a busy day on the phone, chances are that you were going to need a charge somewhere in the day. With the BlackJack II, that has changed. The BlackJack II has a 1700mah battery and it does a great job keeping the signals going. With my average days use, I was able to charge every other night. I normally try to charge nightly, but in my month of usage, I forgot a couple times. On the 2nd day, near the end, I had to wonder if I would make it to the end of the day though. I was able to 90% of the time. My typical usage is 1-2 hours of talk time and 20-30 visits to my Inbox to check email. Not much “web browsing”, but lots of texting and email exchanges.

CONCLUSION 
The BlackJack II is a super performer and now that the battery issues have been rectified from the original BlackJack, it’s a solid phone all around. If you can leave a touchscreen behind, the BlackJack II is a good choice as a “messaging device”.  One handed use and email is a snap on the BlackJack II.

If you can grab this on contract for $99 you will get a great phone for a steal. I don’t think there is anything I would rather buy for $99 or less on the market. I will be returning back to the Tilt, but I could easily make the BlackJack II my daily driver. I did miss the touchscreen of my Tilt this past month though.

Bottom line, the BlackJack II is a great value for the buck. It has plenty of bang. Tons of memory, great screen, 3G, Built in GPS… there is not much more you could ask for, especially not at the $99 price point.
 
Pros

• Thin Design
• Built in GPS
• Price
• Plenty of Memory
• 3G

Cons

• No touchscreen. I know this a “Smartphone” and is not supposed to have a touchscreen, but this is something I didn’t like.
• No WiFi
• Some issues with OS Customizations from Samsung
• Proprietary Connector

For more photos of the BlackJack II, check out the gallery on Flickr.

UPDATE: The BlackJack is going to be offered by Rogers in Canada soon too.

Chris Leckness (3549 Posts) - Website | Twitter | Facebook

Chris Leckness is the Owner/Administrator of Mobilitysite. He is a Microsoft MVP, Mobile Devices and a member of the exclusive focus group, Mobius. Chris runs a Mobilitysite, GotZune, and a few other smaller sites and blogs. His personal blog is chris.leckness.com.