|
| 
 enlarge
| Brand: Samsung
Category: Wireless
List Price: $499.99
Buy New: $0.01
You Save: $499.98 (100%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  27 reviews
Sales Rank: 983
Color: Black
Media: Wireless Phone
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 0 x 0 x 0
Model: BlackJack II
UPC: 635753468083
ASIN: B000YT77LM
Release Date: November 23, 2007
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Promotion: Data not available Terms and Conditions
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Don't buy this annoying, flimsy phone! May 23, 2008
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
[...]
I've had this phone for a week now and already it's obvious that this is a piece of crap, like most of Samsung's phones.
On the plus side the phone gets good reception and good battery life.
However the phone comes with many annoyances that I think are good enough reasons not to buy it. These problems are due in part to Samsung's idiotic design, Microsoft's crappy Windows Mobile software, and unreasonable restrictions set by AT&T.
1. Flimsy physical design -- After only a week my phone already looks a year old from scratches and scuff marks even though I've been babying it. (I either keep this device by itself in my pocket or on a table.) Already there are small but VERY NOTICEABLE SCRATCH MARKS on the screen. There's just something about this screen that makes these tiny little scratches very visible. I'm afraid that in a few months my screen will be near impossible to read! It also already has the kind of scuff marks you'd find on a year-old phone. Also the wheel already looks cruddy and it's not like I have constantly dirty hands or anything. I think its very tiny grooves too easily trap dust and other gunk. So what appears to be a very slick casing is, in my opinion, utterly worthless for most people in just a few weeks time.
2. VERY ANNOYING 3 key unlock -- Since this isn't a flip phone you're going to need to lock the phone when you put it in your pocket, bag, or what have you. Locking is easy -- just hold down the End key for 2 secs. But to unlock it you have to press 3 buttons: first the power button (top side of the phone), then the left soft key (below the screen), and then the * key (middle-left of the keyboard, and not easily found at first). A very difficult combination to make. What a ridiculous and unnecessary procedure, and probably my biggest annoyance with this phone since I end up unlocking it many times a day.
3. Voice/text message tones sound only once -- I miss my old phone which would tone/vibrate every few minutes to remind me that I still have unread/unlistened messages. This phone will only tone/vibrate once. There have been many times that I didn't know I had a message because I somehow missed the notification. Very annoying!
4. VERY LOUD startup and shutdown sounds -- AT&T provided the stupidest startup/shutdown screen with this phone. It plays a very annoying swooshing sound, much louder than even my ring tone! Before I turn off my phone at night I have to put it in silent mode so I don't wake my kids!
5. Useful features are locked down or limited -- First, ringtones can't be more than 300KB in size, which limits you from using most ring tones on the market. Second, the phone's GPS is locked down in a way that it can't be used by apps like Google Maps and Windows Live Search. Un-freaking-believable. Some web sites list ways you can hack your phone to work around this, but they're only for the fearless!
6. Undetectable home keys -- Like most keyboards, the Blackjack 2's keyboard has little notches on the F and J keys. However they are so small that you cannot feel them. They're absolutely worthless.
7. No alpha-numeric mapping for 800 #s -- Don't plan on dialing 1-800-COMCAST or other such numbers from this phone unless you know the actual numerical equivalent. Understandably, the phone's numeric keys don't show that 2 is "ABC", 3 is "DEF", etc. since the number keys are already paired with letter keys on the keyboard. But there could be ways around it, like showing the alpha-numeric mapping on the screen as you dial. There was such a hack for the first Blackjack but that hack doesn't work on the Blackjack 2.
This list is just from my first week of use with this phone. There may be more issues I have yet to come across but I felt it necessary to warn anyone considering this phone to AVOID IT AND GET SOMETHING ELSE. I also recommend staying away from Samsung phones altogether. I've had 2 other Samsung phones before and they all suffered from manufacturing defects, major bugs, and usability annoyances. The first Blackjack had major antenna problems that didn't manifest for months down the line, so I'm very pessimistic that this one also will have latent problems.
 Not for the beginner April 22, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
The only complaint I have is that the unit doesn't manage voice calls very well. It notifies you that you have missed a call, but provides no date or time the call came in. It has a general call log which is hard to find and provides very limited info. If you like logs for "Missed Calls", "Dialed Calls", and "Received Calls", this is not the phone for you. Probably because its emphasis is on mimicking a computer. Maybe I'm not ready for that yet.
Lots of problems April 3, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
It's a decent keyboard cellphone, will all the features you want and even some you don't want.
There are a couple bugs. The GPS is hinky and seems not to perform around tall things like buildings and trees. The buttons freeze somtimes, requiring you power it off. Teh battery life is short... three hours tops.
But the real problem is Microsoft Sync. The phone uses flash memory, so you should be able to add and remove files via USB cable in a click & drag fashion. This is standard for ALL other devices with flash memory.
To get pictures off I have to Sync it with Outlook and email them to myself or use HP snapfish. If I want a new ringtone I have to Sync it and let it import the file. In the mean time it's automatically seized control of my laptop and is using all the CPU trying to suck in all the data in Outlook... even though don't have or use Outlook. I have no option to stop it, nor can it connect to any other email system.
So in sum, phone decent, sync interface is junk.
 Best Phone I've Owned So Far April 3, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Before I start this review I just want to say that I do not use the internet on my phone so this review is a little lop-sided, but for those of you who are like me and cannot afford the internet then this review is for you.
I just got my blackjack II close to a week ago and I must say that this is the best phone that I have owned. I have had a samsung flip phone, and two motorola phones (one being the razr) and this easily tops all of them. For some reason, I have not had a lot of the problems that other people have said they have been having with the phone. I charged my phone two days ago and I still have 3/4 of battery life left after using bluetooth, texting frequently, constantly going through my phone and all the features, and many phone calls. This could be because I have had no conversation since I charged it longer than an hour, but regardless this is a much longer lifespan than some people have said their phone has lasted.
The QWERTY keyboard on the phone took me about a day to get used to, which kinda bothered me a little bit but after about two days I was able to text only one or two errors here or there. While the keys are small, they are spaced out enough to where texting is actually really easy and a lot less awkward than the Motorola Q that I tried out at the AT&T store. The phone plays music on it wonderfully and has really good sound for a music phone. I have yet to get headphones, which actually is one of my irritations because you can only get headphones that were specifically made for the phone. Windows Mobile 6 is a really useful program, especially if you are in the field of business like me and need to access files away from your computer. I am a college student majoring in business, and I have used this phone to review powerpoints for my classes when I do not have a computer around. It shows powerpoints almost flawlessly, but sometimes they are hard to see and so the zoom feature is a necessity (which it does carry). The camera on the phone takes pretty good pictures, though they still have this very slight grayish tint like they did on my razr. I honestly have not used the video yet so I cannot comment on that feature. Perhaps my most abused feature at the moment is the appointment book which I use habitually since have so many events coming up in the next couple of months. It is a great way to keep track of all of my upcoming events, and the fact that the appointments show up on the main screen whenever you look at your phone is perfect for those who constantly forget to check their schedule (like me).
One thing that really bothers me about the phone is that you cannot make any ringtones that are larger than 300k in size. While there are things you can do to fix that, I have not done any of them yet. Regardless, I should not have to go through all of that trouble to make ringtones with an unlimited size. Another problem that I have had with it is I cannot figure out how to connect to activesync through a bluetooth connection, but there are ways to work around using activesync altogether and so it isn't a very big deal. Overall, this is a very good phone if you are a casual user that does not want to pay for all of the extra features. Like I said, if you do want to use the internet on this phone, GPS, or other extra features you may want to find a different review and decide for yourself whether or not this is the phone for you. Regardless, I strongly recommend this phone.
 Blackjack II March 8, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Great product. Free with 2 day shipping...and I just ported my number over from Verizon. Everything went well, and there's no ridiculous rebate to send in to get screwed on. That's what happened last time with my Motorola E815 (Verizon).
Why did I get this phone? I'm in the medical field, and need to stay up to date with emails, calendars etc...and we have Microsoft Outlook Web Access, which synced up perfectly with the wireless data plan. I've downloaded epocrates and Google Maps. Medscape mobile is great too. I was looking at Blackberry, but the lack of 3G was a deal breaker. Also, this was the smallest form factor and had the largest battery (1700mah).
Everything is great so far.
Until they release the iPhone 2 (hopefully 3G, GPS, 32gb...I wish). But this Blackjack II should tide me over until that ideal iPhone2 comes out at a reasonable price (I'm guessing about Jan 2009).
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
