Samsung BlackJack II SGH-i617
Average Ratings
best yet!
I have had and/or messed with virtually every at&t phone out there...this one is my favorite so far!
PROS:
beautiful design
large screen
no dust accumulation under screen!!!
nice new design with keypad
loud ringers and notifications
lots of customization options across board
great call quality and volume
excellent reception (3G & 2G)
can turn off 3G if you want (posted in forum)
center scroll opposed to jog dial
lots of internal memory
windows mobile 6
good battery life so far
not as pricey as other smartphones & better
easy to set up multiple email accounts
CONS:
the camera takes great shots outside...but inside is a different story according to the light
attracts smudges very easily
OVERALL:
I'd still give this device a 5.0 simply on operation of the device and all of the pros listed above. If you want a phone with a great camera, such as 5 megapixels or higher, you're going to spend upwards of $500 or more to still get all that this device can do, as effortlessly as it can do it. I'm very happy with my Black Jack II!
Hope this helps!
Dig it!
This is my first smart-phone, so it took me a while to get used to it, but I work at a phone store so I figured my little ericsson just wasn't cutting it :). Right out of the box I hated the phone...the main screen looks icky, battery didn't last, scrolling around the start menu was annoyyiiiing....but after customizing the home screen, messing with the light settings to make my battery last longer, and setting up some nice shortcuts, I LOOOVE the phone.
Pros:
-Full keyboard...makes texting awesome.
-Red-ish color is nice, and has leathered finish which doesn't attract fingerprints like the black one.
-Lots of alarm options.
-CV feature is tons of fun and loads quickly.
-Internet is super fast, videos load quickly.
-Comes with lots of little games to entertain yourself.
-Home screen is easily customizable.
-Shortcuts!
-Battery life is good once power settings are customized, I charge my phone every 2 days, or every other day if i use lots of features.
Cons:
-Does not let you copy all contacts from the sim to the phone, or vice-versa.
-No voice commands although I don't really use that.
-Ringtone is low-ish.
-Backlight turns on for no reason sometimes.
-Camera is kind of shifty.
I definitely recommend it, it's a pretty fun smartphone and looks cool as hell.
THIS PHONE IS AWESOME!!
I am a former employee of a major cell phone carrier. I have tried everything from the treo (all versions) to the blackberry, and recently the moto Q. well, I landed up returning the Moto Q because I just wasn't happy with it's size and over all performance (extended battery died fast). I also felt that the Blackberry curve was boring, it didn't even have a solitaire game on it. in any event, I figured, well, this is one phone I havent tried yet! don't get me wrong all the phones had a few features I did like and if I could have taken all the features on to one phone I would be a happy camper!
well i think that I finally found the one phone (with a little help from some downloads)
pros:
sexy style (the red one is sleek looking)
slim and light weight
keyboard easy to type
able to install my own ringtones after converting into wma
i charge my phone every night so i have no problem with battery usage
syncs up blue tooth easily
no dropped calls
super fast internet
very nice pictures
cons:
low ringer even on loud...found a program to change that problem
other than that I am extremely pleased and i was never big a samsung fan.
for the first time they proved me wrong !
they made a decent phone for a change and it's fairly inexpensive concidering all the other PDA/phones that are out now.
if you want a phone that you can count on this is the one...
Blackjack II
I have used many phones in the past 10 yrs, from flip phones to blackberries, to Palm Treo's and this phone by far, suits me the best. It's small, but not too small, sleek, packed full of features, has amazing sound quality and has not crashed on me once. Every phone has its idiosyncrasies, and if you've used windows mobile phones before you know what I mean, but this is my first smart phone, I have used windows mobile professional phones in the past, and I don't know why I didn't try a smart phone sooner. The battery life on this phone is amazing, however like any 3G phone it does suffer when using a 3G connection, under heavy use you can get a day and a half to two days, light usage will give you more, but a car charger is recommended. The built in GPS is nice, I bought Garmin's Mobile XT for $100 and it works like a dream, google maps is just not for me, but it will work also. There are no cons about this phone that I can think of except that for me the keyboard is taking some getting used to, but I am coming from a Nokia E61i which has a huge keyboard so that is no surprise. Many people compare this phone to the Motorola Q9h, I have played with that phone and personally I don't like it, but like anything you have to compare, touch and feel and make up your own mind. This phone has all I need and just works. If you are looking for a windows smart phone, that can take up to 4G SDHC cards and likely larger, get your email, sync it with a Microsoft Exchange server, or pop your gmail, play mp3's, use them as ring tones, need a GPS, this phone is for you.
Very good phone for the money
PROS:
3G
Full keyboard
LED Indicator for POP3 email
Extremely easy email setup (with gmail)
GPS
Great screen
Nice shiny finish. It's a love/hate thing.
Better keyboard than Blackjack I
Rotating wheel comes in handy
CONS:
Build quality could be better
Rotating wheel could be built better or have tactile feedback like the iPod, but this would drive up costs, understandably the phone is priced cheaper and I believe it's better this way
POP3 email is not true push like a Blackberry.
Review:
It has a circle wheel of sorts in the middle which I actually like, albeit a little flimsy. Shaped like the iPod but it moves and isn't based on tactile feedback.
The phone is really sleek with a shiny coating which some people love or hate. It comes with Windows Mobile 6 Standard (ability to READ, not WRITE MS Office docs), POP3 email support with LED indicator (like Blackberrys albiet it isn't "PUSH" email, rather pull in 5 min rotations) video, 3G, GPS via Telenav, full keyboard (which is why I got it, the regular T9 keypad on my SYNC was horrible for texting). It also has tethering capabilities which allow you to hook it directly up to your PC for use of the 3G data connection, which is great if you're on the go and need to VPN into your company's network or the like and there's no WiFi available. Tethering requires a PDA MediaNet data plan which is different than your regular MediaNet Max Data plans for standard phones. If you don't get a PDA plan with tethering, you may end up with an 85k bill like some guys...
It seems like it's impossible to find anyone who doesn't text anymore, especially girls. I just did my full charge last night so I guess we'll see how long the battery lasts, but I've sent ~20 texts already and it's much easier to text with and the keyboard is more gel-like than the original Blackjack. Also the port covers are now in a shiny metallic chrome finish instead of standard matte black.
BLACKJACK II
THIS PHONE IS GREAT
The phone is amazing I used the blackjack one and really liked it but had some basic issues with it. The blackjack II took all the issues I had with the phone and made them better
My first issue with the blackjack I was that when you have to enter the zero button you could not just hold down the spacebar you actually had to press function key. Now it is on a separate key that allows you to do this. In turn they took off the number lock button which is very disappointing.
The next issue is that there was neither WIFI nor GPS in the blackjack I. Samsung took care of the GPS problem by including it in the Blackjack II (drains the battery very quickly). Samsung tried for about 3 months to include WIFI but AT&T would not allow them to because itâs a low priced phone. It will take away from the data package that is required to use internet. (AT&T would loose money)
WM6 is a great feature but I still choose to install a program called façade overtop of it so that the user interface is a lot easier to use.
If you are a neat freak and figure prints bother you then the glossy black finish will really bother you. In my opinion Samsung took away from a good by using this new finish. I also think that the plastic feels a little cheap.
The best part of this phone is the jog wheel around the D-pad. That makes the phone really easy to navigate with and is so much faster when going through the phone book.
Over all the phone is amazing!! and if you have any questions email me them and I will be sure to get back to you
Battery Life is ridiculous
own the first jack, great phone excellent battery life. The new one is a different story. In a marketing scheme to get more consumer money Samsung changed batteries, charger but left virtually every other aspect of the phone alone.
Pros: None cannot use any applications for fear of the battery dying and not being able to make or receive calls.
Cons: Battery will last 4 hours completely charged, this is with very minimal use.
would not recommend this phone.
Time to go back to trusty old Motorola. Samsung you Suck!!
All that I hoped for.
I had an LG Shine, but after having four of them all with the same problems (no signal strength), I gave up on AT&T and bought myself a lightly used Blackjack 2 on eBay. I paid 205 after shipping, which is roughly half of what they cost new, outright (no contract). So far, I'm extremely pleased with this phone.
Pros:
- loud ringer (something the Shine severely lacked)
- full keyboard (amazing for texting)
- signal strength (makes calls just fine where my Shine had no service)
- battery life (I use it heavily and charge every other day)
- internet ease of use (I've already went over my 1 MB limit - haha)
- camera is good
- great for handling my work schedules and other appointments
- wake-up alarm can be set to only ring on certain days (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, for example)
- many others I can't remember right now
Cons:
- no camera flash
- takes a while to get signal back once it finally does lose it (turning it off and back on helps)
- buttons are a tad small (you get used to it, but for a week I was typing constant errors in my texts)
- can't copy all contacts at once to move to sim from phone or vice versa - you have to do them one by one.
Overall those are all just minor quibbles. I love this phone and honestly expect it to last until my upgrade eligibility in 2010.
Decent for what it is.. so far
I've owned 2 SGH-I617 so far. How you ask..
Bought it the first Friday when they were released. First issue out of the door was a software glitch. No matter what screen you used, if no input was detected within 12 seconds, you were kicked back to the home screen. No big deal, went and exchanged with no issues. Not sure what issues the other reviews are having with battery life. The box states a 3 hour talk time (horrible) I have never had a call that lasted more then 3 straight hours. Batt on my lasted a day with modderate usage. Installing apps, emoze and just playing with it. Took approx 14 calls that lasted 38 mins the first day and the batt lost one bar from the calls. The rest of the batt loss was from texting/internet/adding contacts/e-mails. Power user may or may not depending on useage need an extra batt.
Pros:
Win Mobile 6 much faster then 5
2 megapix camera
4 GB Mini SD memory compaible
GPS works great w/Google Maps (though slow on cold starts locating sats)
Numbers on key pad are closer together like a normal phone.
QWERTY key board is spaced well (I have big digits)
Light indicator that blinks/flashes w/incoming texts, calls etc
Nuetrals
Glossy exterior is a finger print magnent. I liked the matt finish of the original.. but the glossy was grown on me
Cons
Scroll wheel is now the D-PAD. Give no click, click feedback that you have moved it.
Loss of second Back button on side of phone.
STILL NO WI-FI WAKE UP ATT/SAMSUNG
Overall the phone seems great for what it is. A Win Mobile 6 smart phone with some decent features. This is only my second(tech 3rd) smartphone. I'm a moderate user with moderate needs. So take this review for what you will. If your a extreme power user, you may want to look @ a more powerful phonne, PPC maybe. Something with a touch screen may suit you better. I need the interent, ability to send/recieve e-mails, text sms/mms. This phone does it all for me.
Shattered Dreams
Well I have been with AT&T for 24 days waiting for this phone for 15 and disappointed for almost 3. Lots of hype surrounded the release at least at the store I was shopping. Not what I was hoping for not sure if i'm keeping it as of yet....
Pros:
Sleek design
feels sturdy
256MB internal memory
no slop common in some of the RiM keyboards
WM6 is a sweet OS very fast!
nicely spaced keys for bigger fingers
Fairly customizable (pics ringers Etc)
front scroll wheel
Office Mobile
I have the AT&T $20 data package for smartphones and can access everything (not sure which package is necessary but the less expensive one is working ATM)
Not a horrible phone if you can get past the cons....
Battery life is SHORT SHORT SHORT! The box says 3 hours talk time (even tho phone scoop had it at 7) but under heavy use (no calls) I had the battery die in under 90 mins. unfortunately this version doesn't have the second or extended battery the original had.
Buy the car charger! You'll need it. Be prepared for the long charge times too.
The softkey area is very uniform and hard to distinguish where your fingers are without looking.
OMG the fingerprints! The gloss case and screen show EVERYTHING. Even future finger and face prints are already visible.
Office mobile while allowing you to open and edit your Documents doesn't allow you to create them. Which is passable if you email yourself EVERY template :)
Sometimes the Data connection is moody and it disconnects you if you switch modes during downloading or page changes.
My suggestion is to wait for them to release it with an extended or second battery, if you have your heart set on this phone..otherwise keep shopping. Good Luck!
