Carl Tyler's Blog :: Samsung Blackjack first impressions...

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So when I moved to my new place just a few months ago, I discovered that my existing cell phone service from Sprint really didn't work very well when there was no coverage. I even tried putting a wireless extender in the house with an external antenna, which helped as long as I stayed within about 4 feet of the extender base station. So it was time to get a new service provider. Having checked with visitors when they came around and looking at their cell phone reception, Cingular/AT&T came out tops, with all the bars. So last week I logged onto Cingular and moved my existing phone service across. The phone arrived yesterday and here are my initial impressions

Windows Mobile take a while to load when compared to my palm 650
The device is much lighter than the palm and probably half the depth. Whilst it's lighter and a little smaller, it doesn't feel as solid as the palm, I think this is down to the feel of the plastic case the weight.
What were Samsung thinking? To power the phone you have to use a special cable from Samsung, the same is true for an external headset that isn't blue tooth, it requires a special connector. The thing I find most irritating, the USB cable that comes with the phone can be used to charge the phone, but only appears to do so after you've installed Microsoft ActiveSync on your PC. This is craziness, why do that? I have a USB power adapter for the mains, and because it isn't running ActiveSync I can't charge my phone with it, the same is true for the 12v USB car adapter. This will be something I will try and figure out if I can work around without investing in new chargers. All phones should now include a 1.5mm audio jack and use standard USB for charging, it's just a smart thing to do if you value your customers
At home I am on the Edge network and near bigger towns I can get 3G, 3G is great for connecting from my cell phone to my Slingbox at home
I can run Sametime Mobile on this phone! Not possible on the palm as IBM considers the palm a consumer device, and consumers don't want Sametime, well that was the reasoning they gave me when I bitched about the omission of Sametime for Palm OS.
As with pretty much any phone you buy now days it comes with software out of the box to work with Outlook. Notes looks possible if you use a 3rd party gateway, POP3, IMAP etc. So this is something I will need to investigate further. The phone also works with Microsoft's Exchange Push technology. No idea how well that works yet.
Unlike the Palm OS, windows mobile does allow apps to carry on running in the background. This has created some issues, as I keep hitting the home button on the phone, and the apps are still running in the background, I didn't realize this until I was trying out the CNN news feed and switched back to the main menu and the audio was still going in the background.
Sprint support + for international dialing, the treo supported this but Sprint didn't, this will make life much easier when travelling, although my palm didn't work when I was abroad anyway.

Conclusion, well I don't have one yet. I will have to give it a few more days before I can really say if I like it or not.

Comments

1 - I tried one of these back in December. Working for a Cingular reseller and knowing the guy over the wireless division helps out if I want to try out things.

http://cwhisonant.blogspot.com/2006/12/samsung-blackjack.html

I didn't like WM5, the proprietary power/audio either. The second battery was great (and greatly needed...). It was a good device overall, though - enjoy!

Posted by Chris Whisonant At 11:47:13 AM On 05/08/2007 | - Website - |

2 - The phone also works with Microsoft's Exchange Push technology. No idea how well that works yet.

Just as it should (you need an Exchange Server (2003 + SP2 or 2007). Push mail works great. I still think push mail is a silly thing because email is not IM but any way you set it up in seconds.

Be sure to get a device with WM 6 by the way. It will be a missed opportunity if you now buy a device with an "old" OS

O and for Mobile SameTime, wouldn't rather work with the new Mobile Communicator and OCS 2007

Posted by Peter de Haas At 12:11:02 PM On 05/08/2007 | - Website - |

3 - There is a product similar to BlackBerry that runs on WM5 called Motorola Good Mobile Messaging. You may have heard of this.

http://www.good.com/corp/int_products.php?id=105

Posted by Rod Westwood At 12:25:39 PM On 05/08/2007 | - Website - |

4 - Just stop messing around with MS in your pocket, and get yourself a BlackBerry. You know it makes sense (as well as having sync and sametime all out of the box..)

---* Bill

Posted by Wild Bill At 01:10:10 PM On 05/08/2007 | - Website - |

5 - @1 Thanks, I had forgotten about that review.

@2 Now you tell me about WM6

It's WM5, I suppose it can't be upgraded when WM6 comes out? Right now I'll give the thing 10 days and see how I get on with it, my primary purpose is for it to be a phone. Now if someone wants to switch my phone out when WM6 comes out then please let me know i can send a shipping address, Tony you there?

Actually that goes for any phone, now that my phone has a SIM card, I should be able to switch between phones.

@3 Hi Rod, I'm aware of Good, I think I was unsure to it's cost. I see Good have an offer running at the moment http://www.good.com/getgood/free/free.html which would cover my needs for free, I'll have to look into that.

@4 I did seriously look at the Blackberry, it was mssing 3G support. I really like to be able to use my phone as a modem when I'm travelling and 3G can make a huge difference in speed. The other issue was that there is no Slingbox player for Blackberry. I'll give it 10 days and see how I get on with this device, if I don't like it, then it will be time to reinvestigate other options...

Appreciate the feedback from everyone.

Posted by Carl Tyler At 02:14:28 PM On 05/08/2007 | - Website - |

6 - There is another option - you can get Blackberry software for Widows CE devices - gives full blackberry availability. I used to have it on my MDA before I got a real Blackberry with this job. Worked beatifully with the domino BES server we used to have at the last place. Much better than any sort of Active Sync (in my opinion)

Posted by Rupert At 03:59:26 PM On 05/08/2007 | - Website - |