Samsung BlackJack i607 Smartphone

Reviews: Electronics

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Anthony Fiti
Kurtis
Samsung
May. 7, 2007

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Phone, Contacts and Calendar

The phone itself was not that different from a normal mobile phone. Other that the fact that you have a QWERTY keyboard with certain keys that perform double duty as the numeric keypad, there isn't a whole lot different here.

The phone call quality was good, I didn't have a problem getting a good signal (though I should note that Cingular also spent over $80M USD on the cellular network in my city in 2006 alone, adding towers and upgrading it to 3G/HSDPA), and it performed just as well, if not a little better than my personal Samsung D807 slider.

When you dial numbers, they are shown on the screen at a large size, which is good for older folks who may not have the best vision (my parents always complain about this fact - how the cellphones have small numbers displayed when you're dialing). As you type the numbers in the previously dialed numbers will show up below, and if you're dialing the number of a contact the name and mode (home, mobile, work) will display instead of the phone number.

Battery life was a disappointment; I found that I could only go about a day and a half on the standard battery. And I believe that Samsung knows this since they package the phone with two batteries, presumably to keep a spare around if the first one dies. Anyone considering this phone would definitely need to consider an additional charger, probably a car charger for the phone, or even an extended battery (though that would alter the slimline design of the phone).

Contacts were a little more difficult to manage than I had expected with one exception, and that is once you select the person you want to contact, you can chose to send them a text message without having to navigate through a separate menu. Otherwise, I found myself hitting the wrong button and canceling an edit or addition, or leaving it half complete to require editing again.

The calendar functionality was simple; pushing the left softkey would scroll you through the different calendar views, from Agenda (list of appointments), day, week and month views. I appreciate the month view since I often find myself needing to look at a monthly calendar to find out what day of the week a date falls on. Appointments were easy to create and manage from the phone, and ActiveSync can manage those appointments from an Outlook calendar as well (though I don't have Outlook as my contact and email manager). Reminders can be set, anywhere from a minute to a day or week in advance.

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Page 1: Introduction, What's Inside & Advertised Capabilities
Page 2: First Looks
Page 3: Phone, Contacts and Calendar
Page 4: Email, IM and Internet
Page 5: Camera, Music and Conclusion

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7 User Comments

1 - Posted by Max Slowik on May 7, 2007 - 8:48 pm

"When you dial numbers, they are shown on the screen at a large size, which is good for older folks who may not have the best vision (my parents always complain about this fact – how the cellphones have small numbers displayed when you’re dialing)."

It's amazing that our parents were ever able to use phones /without/ displays /at all/ ;P

2 - Posted by aireiq on May 9, 2007 - 2:06 pm

Aren't all data plans spendy? Or are you saying that the one you reviewed is worse than many/most/all others?

3 - Posted by handrail on May 9, 2007 - 3:06 pm

i think most data plans are rather spendy. let's hope the iPhone's (presumed) popularity will spawn other similar products that jumpstart the popularity of EDGE and HSDPA and bring the cost down.

4 - Posted by Kurtis on May 9, 2007 - 3:49 pm

He was referring to all data plans. It's a problem with all smartphones. The data plans are ridiculously expensive for the casual user. Certainly a small and worthwhile investment for business but for the average Joe it's just a bit on the expensive side.

5 - Posted by aireiq on May 9, 2007 - 10:07 pm

@Kurtis

Thanks for clarification. I thought for a second there it was specific to the smartphone TTL reviewed (What? The BlackJakc plans are even more expensive?).

Thought it was "[TTL's] biggest complaint" as mentioned in the intro.

Thanks again.

6 - Posted by Kurtis on May 9, 2007 - 10:19 pm

Anthony's biggest complaints were battery life (with the standard battery, he didn't have an extended one to test), and the expensive data plans for smart phones.

7 - Posted by Max Slowik on May 10, 2007 - 2:12 am

Oh, I totally get that impression too:

I thought the complaint was the cost of the plan, too, since the battery life thing would seem to have been solved by the mfg.

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