Customer Reviews:
 Overall a nearly perfect WM6 phone! February 13, 2008
103 out of 103 found this review helpful
Personal background: I am a medical resident who loves tech/gadgets, and who has used a PocketPC (HP Ipaq 1910) since 2003 and a Blackjack (i607) since 2007. Previous cell phones include the Motorola RAZR and SLVR L7, a $300 Nokia way back in 1997, and some lame Moto clamshell before the RAZR. Currently an AT&T customer.
So I recently sold my Blackjack I on the world's favorite auction site and bought a Blackjack II (i617) from the same site. Here's my breakdown, but keep in mind that some pros and some cons are based on the phone and some on the operating system (Window Mobile 6). Anywayz...
The Good:
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1. Design
I thought I would hate it when I saw the first images released months ago, and did not like the glossy appearance when I first tried one out at an AT&T store, but actually owning one now, I think it's great. The shape simply feels good in my hand. It is nicely weighted, but not too heavy or too light. The width is great, and is also not too wide or narrow. Obviously, this depends on your own hand size. The glossy surface I found I prefer to the matte/soft-rubbery surface texture of the original Blackjack. IMO, it looks much more upper-end than the original. The glossiness is not a big deal in terms of being a fingerprint magnet because there is not much exposed to the fingers, except for the soft keys. This device is not a fingerprint magnet like, say, a black iPod or a Sony PSP. Much attention has been paid to details, and it is a very clean design. No more "jog dial" on the right side (more on that later), and only a MicroSD port on the right and a proprietary port for power/headphones on the left, and both are covered with a removable and "swivel-able" cover. I compared this with various other smartphones including the Motorola Q9h and various Nokias and Blackberries, and think that they all look quite cheesy and tacky compared to the i617. Of course, design is subjective, but I really like the design.
-Scroll Wheel
The jog dial on the right side of the i607 is indeed gone, but not missed at all. I used the jog dial extensively on the i607 and so I was initially concerned that it would be a pain to navigate on the i617, but not so at all. The direction pad also functions as a spinning scroll wheel, and it works great. It cannot be adjusted for scroll speed, but it will scroll through contacts, mp3s in your library, etc., with much speed and ease. For menus, though, like the start menu, it is not as speedy but hardly slow or cumbersome. I find it much more comfortable to use than the jog dial on the old Blackjack or the Moto Q.
-Keypad
Improved significantly by slightly wider buttons. They do not seem much bigger, but the ease of typing has increased noticeably for me, and it is possible to type much quicklier. Also, the number pad are located next to each other which is an improvement over the i607.
-LED
Useful in that the light shines red when charging, and green when fully charged. Otherwise, not so useful in that there is no documentation of what magenta and blue lights signify, and no ability for the LED to continuously flash when there was a missed call/message. Still, better than no LED.
2. Performance:
Of course, performance matters more for a smartphone, and the i617 does not disappoint in any respect. The RAM memory has been upped from about 50MB on the Blackjack I, to about 100MB on the i617, while onboard storage memory ROM has been upped to approximately 150MB from about 50MB as well. The processor is an ARM 926E at about 300Mhz, a modest improvement from the i607. Basically, this all means that the i617 can handle programs with more ease and with better multitasking. It opens applications noticeably faster than the i607, and can handle more open applications at the same time. I personally have tried several third party programs, including Skype, SlingPlayer Mobile, Pocket Nester Plus (a Nintendo NES emulator), Garmin Mobile XT (GPS navigation software), Opera Mobile browser, and a variety of Skyscape medical software (including Tabers medical dictionary and Washington Manual), and all have run swiftly and smoothly. Also, Windows Mobile 6 runs at a decent speed on the i617.
3. GPS:
Built in GPS receiver is one of the best features of this phone. I have used it successfully, out of the box, with Google Maps, Microsoft Live Search, and Garmin Mobile XT without any problems in Baltimore, New York, and points in between. On average, it takes the i617 about 2-5 minutes to pick up the satellites from a cold start in the city. In certain locations, like the parking lot of Walmart in Baltimore, it picked up the satellites in 10 seconds from a cold start (e.g. turned on after being powered off)! Note, there are reports that some i617s do not have GPS enabled out of the box for use with non-TeleNav applications (e.g. Google Maps, Live Search, Garmin, etc.), but you can google the way that others have worked around this issue (involves hard resetting your phone until it works, or installing a hack... checkout modaco-dot=com for more details). The other great thing about GPS integrated is that you can use it in your car with only one charger to charge both GPS and phone, which is nice after using a bluetooth GPS receiver on my i607. And you will need a car charger as the GPS is a power hog.
One nice improvement over the i607 (not sure if it's the phone or WM6), but when actively using GPS in an application, the backlight will automatically not turn off, which is nice when you are using it in the car. On my i607, I would need to go to power management settings to turn the backlight on when using GPS and turn it off when I was done with it, which was a bit of a hassle.
4. Smartphone (and YouTube!)
Yes, it is great having a smartphone versus a cool, yet dull iPhone. You can use programs like Skype (works decently with 3G network), SlingPlayer Mobile (also works well with 3G), NES and SNES emulators (with individual games ~1/3 of a MB in size), all sorts of cool 3rd party software. YouTube works as well! Not with Windows Media Player 10 Mobile, but with TCPMP (the core player mobile player) which is a free-download. I have sat in a deli in New York streaming YouTube clips in fullscreen (320x240 resolution) with minimal stuttering. It was a pretty cool experience.
Unlike the iPhone (a great phone otherwise), with a smartphone, not only can you use a huge number of 3rd party applications, but you can also easily hack your phone (search for i617 hacks) to change you start menu, get rid of the power on/off video and sounds, edit backgrounds, and basically change many things to your preference.
5. 8GB MicroSD:
Yes, you can use 8GB MicroSD cards! I have a Sandisk MicroSD that I bought for about $82 and it works without any problems. Supposedly, they will work on the original Blackjack as well.
6. Music/Video:
MP3s sound great on the i617 as they did on the i607. Videos look and sound great too, and can be easily created with freeware (like 3GP converter). I have made tons of TV show, movie, and music video files this way, and with a 8GB MicroSD card, you can store A LOT of media files on your phone. At least as much as the 8GB iPhone ;)
7. Ringtones:
You can, of course, use your own MP3 files as ringtones, which is great. Sadly, there is a size limit of 300KB per ringtone, but you can easily hack this so that you can use any size MP3 for a ringtone (involves a simple deletion of a registry key, which can easily be done).
8. 3G and Tethering:
3G is absolutely a required feature on any smartphone, and this will enable you to stream YouTube, SlingPlayer Mobile, etc., on your i617 without difficulty, and without need of a wifi hotspot and additional subscription fees. Also, you can USB "tether" this phone and use it as a high-speed modem for your laptop when you are traveling (especially in 3G regions)! How cool is that?
9. Various Preinstalled Applications:
I like using World Map (improved from i607), the PDF viewer (which sadly runs out of memory when trying to view the New York MTA subway map, but works fine with other PDF files I have used), the calculator, and especially the alarm (can set multiple alarms, with specific ring tones, and personalize-able days of the week and times).
10. Java:
Java is now included in the i617 so that you can use the gmail application (although I prefer the web-based gmail better) and other java applets.
The Mediocre:
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1. Windows Mobile 6 (e.g. Office Mobile):
WM6 offers some improvements over WM5, the most noticeable and significant one perhaps being the inclusion of Office Mobile. With this, you can view Powerpoint, Excel, and Word files, and you can edit Excel and Word files. While nice, it is not that great as it is just not really feasible to edit or view a huge Excel spreadsheet on the tiny 2.4" screen, and the functionality and viewing options are limited and make navigating difficult. Word fares a bit better, and can be considered a useful addition. Powerpoint files, oddly, cannot be edited with Office Mobile, which is odd because PPT files are the only ones that can generally be viewed decently on the 2.4" screen. An entire slide looks decent when viewed on the screen, so long as it is not jam packed with text. It takes about 5 seconds to transition between slides, which makes it frustrating when viewing a long PPT presentation.
2. Battery Life:
Samsung improved upon the much maligned battery life of the original Blackjack (although unjustly so, IMO, as much of the drainage occurred as a result of the phone automatically switching between 3G and EDGE networks, which could be addressed by using a simple "hidden" application called "bandsel.exe" that is already present in the i607 \windows folder, to set the data network to only 3G or EDGE) by putting in a 1700mAh lithium battery as the standard battery. This is significantly larger than the 1100mAh standard battery of the i607, and almost the capacity of the 1800mAh extended battery of the i607.
Still, the i617, because of its better processor and the increased demands of WM6, drains more quickly than the i607. With the extended battery, my i607 would last easily over a full day of usage, but the i617 will struggle with heavy usage. Yet, I have not had problems with battery life, with moderate usage, and simply charge once a day. With average application usage (e.g. some video, music, other software) I can get about 4 hours of talk time before the battery dies. Personally, I would have preferred a 2000mAh and a slightly thicker phone. But most users probably do not need more battery life anyway.
3. Camera/Video
Camera was upped to 2 megapixels from 1.3, but still no flash or autofocus. Yet, pictures have turned out okay for me, and video recording has been decent, with ease of saving or sending recorded clips as multimedia messages, which is pretty cool.
4. ActiveSync:
ActiveSync has been pretty lame since I was using my HP Ipaq 1910 in 2003, and it is no different now. Still clunky and annoying to use. Not very useful in synchronizing website favorites, your Notepad entries, etc.
The Not So Good:
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1. Proprietary Headphone/Power Connection:
This is annoying in two ways. First, that you need to buy Samsung headphones or use a clumsy 3.5mm adaptor to listen to audio. Second, because the jack is different than the i607 jack, so if you are upgrading from the Blackjack I, sorry, you need to get all new chargers and headphones. Annoying but at least the OEM headphones are decent.
2. Windows Media Player Mobile:
This is a WM6 problem, but it is lame how Microsoft did not improve serious design flaws in WMP10. Namely, the inability to designate a specific file for addition of songs to your library. Instead, you can only choose either "device" or "storage card," which is a problem if you have a lot of non-music audio files on the storage card, say, from your GPS navigation program. Thus, ALL FILES must be added to the library. A major annoyance that sadly was not addressed from WM5. Also annoying that you need to install a different media player (TCPMP) to watch YouTube videos. It would be nice to just watch videos straight form the mobile YouTube site. Luckily, TCPMP offers a good, free alternative to WMP mobile.
3. Lack of Accessories Included:
I did not really mind, but many people will not be happy that the i617 does not include anything except for a wall charger and USB cable. At least a set of headphones for that proprietary jack would have been nice. Otherwise, you can find good OEM stuff on that famous auction site or here on Amazon from 3rd party sellers.
4. No Lanyard Hole:
Strangely and presumeably for aesthetic reasons, Samsung has gotten rid of the lanyard "loop/hole" from the i607, meaning that you cannot loop a wriststrap/lanyard onto the i617. I was annoyed at the omission of a simple and obvious feature, but I have adjusted to being more careful with it but still find it aggravating that such a small feature was omitted.
5. Inability to "Map" Right Soft Key:
The old Blackjack had the ability to define/map the right soft key to be a shortcut for any application you choose, but they (Microsoft or Samsung?) have gotten rid of that ability, so it is stuck to opening your contacts list. There may be a way to hack this but I have not found one yet.
6. Less Functionality than Windows Mobile Professional (for PDA phones):
Yes, this is a WinMo Standard phone, so you have less functionality in a variety of settings, including a pretty watered down and simplified "tasks" which is quite useful in the PocketPC version.
The Bottom Line:
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Whew! Apologies to anyone who wasted precious minutes of their lives reading this review, but really I cannot say enough about this phone. Finally, I have a smartphone that is nearly perfect for my purposes and lets me do just about as much with a phone as I ever wanted. Loved the Blackjack I, but this one is a HUGE improvement on the original. Easily the best smartphone on the market IMHO.
Great wine color and good phone February 8, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
First I have to admit, I love the red color. Its a dark red so it looks black at night, but the main reason, the red Blackjack II has a snake looking back that has a firm grip. perfect, no finger prints!
The phone works great. I had other smartphones, but this one is slick and has a nice glossy screen. More color as well. It was easy to set up email and other applicants unlike my other phones, were I actually had to open numerous forums to figure things out.
Lastly, everything else is great, but the GPS is the main reason I got it. I am out in the boonies and it still works like a charm. I recommend getting a car charger because the GPS kills the battery. but I use this thing as a GERMIN, its perfect.
 Nice Phone but not yet PERFECTION!!!! February 1, 2008
4 out of 7 found this review helpful
This is a very nice phone and a better choice over the black model as the black Samsung BlackJack 2 gathers alot of finger prints. The back of the PDA is a completely different material then the one on the black version. Dont let the RED offend your BUTCH man hood. Its a very drak tint of a red. No sign of a GIRLY phone at all. Anyways its a nice phone but i hate the Windows menu option. I wish you had a choice between the Windows and Samsung version of the menu screen. Unfortunately all you can do is change the menu style the way Windows has it layed out for you. The camera is really nice and so is the camcorder, but considering that so many international GSM phones have over 5.0 megapixels, i think its time the US get above a 3.0 as well. the call quality is really clear as well. AT&T has come such a long way since the 1990's. The web browser is really fast, i live in New York City so i wasnt expecting slow speeds since i'm at the mecca of technology central. Im very pleased with my purchase and i got it for 49.99 and Radio Shack and the sales rep was really nice giving it to me at the promo price since i'm not a new customer, it was a 2 year upgrade. The promo price was only for new clients. He was also nice enough 2 not charge me a data package as i told him i was in a hurry and would miss my bus. So i got a total bargain PDA smart phone for only 49.99. AT&T data packages are really expensive. I'd rather have gotten this phone for 0.1 on Amazon but they make purchasing phones so complicated. Compairing this to the BlackJack 1, its only a cosmetic upgrade, nothing groundbreaking has been added in except a larger screen and the scroll wheel which i dont care about as it seems unresponsive to me. The also removed the scroll wheel on the side of the phone from the 1st version. Overall i love the phone just wish the new Samsung PDA had a touch screen as the qwerty keyboard is getting out dated.
Excellent, Full Featured Phone January 30, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
I have had this phone for about three weeks now and I love it. If you are looking for a Windowns Mobile device this is a great, inexpensive option. This is my first time using Windows Mobile and thus far I have enjoyed it. It functions better than your typical cell phone OS by leaps and bounds. I can't compare this to the Blackberry OS as I do not have experiance with that. Installing and removing programs is a breeze and customized ringtones, colors and wallpapers is euqally as easy.
My favorite part of this phone is that it actually functions very well as a phone. That may sound silly, but some phones now worry about the camera and software more than call quality. This has it all and I'd reccomend to anyone who would like an easy to use, Windows Mobile phone.
 Stunning phone but not that great. January 17, 2008
I've had this phone since December 2007. It was alright at first, the first two months that I had it but then it started to go down hill. First of all I have to say that it's cheaply made. It fell off my nightstand which is not even two feet and the screen cracked. The cover on the side, where you plug in your cord for charging, is really cheap. After the constant moving of that thing, moving it to the side to charge it and closing it so no dust would enter, it seems like the stupid cover is about break off. Bluetooth connection is not that great and calls aren't as clear. The keyboard is kinda cramp so I find myself hitting other buttons when I text. I do love some of the features on the phone, but my phone does slow down when I'm trying to close down programs via system manager or when I'm just exiting from one program. The screen and the top main keys smudges kind of easy whenever you're using it so you'll find yourself cleaning your phone A LOT.
It's a really nice phone but I believe it's not of good quality for the amount you are paying for.
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