Samsung SGH-i607 BlackJack™

Call Quality

Call quality: Call quality on the Samsung BlackJack was hit or miss. While callers often said we came through loud and clear, we had a hard time hearing them. Volume is not the issue with this Samsung cell phone; we rarely needed to use the side controls to increase volume. Rather, phone calls tended to have static, and we had to ask callers to repeat themselves. This is mainly because the cell phone doesn’t support two people talking simultaneously; thereby, it randomly cuts off people mid-sentence. However, the speakerphone quality was impressive. With this feature activated, we could hear calls clearly even when we were in another room.

Audio quality: Music playback on this Samsung cell phone is decent, but we wouldn’t recommend ditching your MP3 player in favor of this device. There were occasions when we found the audio quality to be tinny, but overall music playback was quite loud, and we rarely needed to use the side controls to increase volume. Since the BlackJack lacks an included headset, you’ll have to get a Bluetooth-enabled model if you want to listen to music through headphones.

Ease of Use

Menu/phone book: Since the BlackJack uses Microsoft’s Windows Mobile Edition 5.0, it’s no wonder the main interface looks so similar to your computer desktop; it works the same way too. Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to find downloaded items, such as songs or images, and you’ll likely spend a decent amount of time figuring out where everything is stored on your BlackJack.

However, the good news is that you can actually take along important documents or PowerPoint presentations when you're away from your home or the office; just use the included ActiveSync software to sync your cell phone with your computer before you hit the road. You can also use the included software and mini USB-to-USB cable to easily sync contacts, calendar, and e-mail between the BlackJack and your computer. Since the BlackJack’s address book is essentially a mini version of Microsoft Outlook, the cell phone provides plenty of room to store actual addresses and other pertinent information, such as e-mail addresses and contact numbers.

Messaging: If you’re considering getting this cell phone, its e-mail capabilities should be a top reason. Since the BlackJack uses Microsoft software, it handles mail from Microsoft Outlook extremely well, especially if your company has the appropriate Exchange Server (check with your IT department to find out if the Samsung BlackJack will connect with work e-mail out of the box). If your company doesn’t use the correct server, you’ll still be able to check and respond to your e-mail, but it'll take longer. We highly recommend signing up for Cingular’s XpressMail service to really expedite things.

The BlackJack supports, among others, POP3, IMAP4, and SMTP protocols, which means you can access just about any of your e-mail accounts. You can even set up multiple mailboxes, one for each account. If you want to send an IM from this cell phone, it’s no problem; it has AOL and Yahoo IM applications built in. However, we should note that if you plan on leaving IM activated for most of the day, it will quickly drain the battery.

Camera/video: The Samsung BlackJack has a 1.3-megapixel camera, but it lacks a flash. This isn’t a big deal since the flash typically doesn’t add much to picture quality in cell phone cameras. However, on the back of the cell phone and next to the lens, a tiny mirror is available for snapping self-portraits. As for picture quality, it was acceptable but far from fabulous, especially when you try to capture a subject that's in motion; the resulting picture is just one big blur. And while the phone's homemade videos aren't stellar, the shape and quality of the BlackJack's display makes playing them back quite enjoyable to watch.

The Samsung BlackJack comes with the usual array of camera features, including 4 resolution settings (economy to fine; use economy if you don’t want the pictures to fill up the cell phone’s memory too quickly), white balance, and a timer. There are a couple of fun shooting options, such as multishot (shoot a succession of pictures of the same object quickly) and mosaic, which uses many images of the same photo to comprise the complete shot. If you want to add pizzazz to your pics, tack on a border using one of the included photo frames.

Music: As expected, the BlackJack's music player is closely tied to Microsoft; in fact, Windows Media Player is the default player. Thus, you can listen to only WMA and MP3 files on the BlackJack. While you can designate a song as a ringtone, you must save tunes directly on the cell phone. This shouldn’t be a major hurdle, but it’s worth noting that you'll need to purchase an optional MicroSD storage card to better manage the music on your cell phone.

Additionally, if you want to create playlists, you can’t do so on the cell phone. Instead, you need to do it in Windows Media Player on your computer, then sync it with the Samsung BlackJack. One super cool feature is Music ID, which tells you the name of the song playing on a stereo or a radio. However, it works only when you're connected to the wireless Internet, so be sure to get a data plan for your cell phone if you want to take advantage of this feature.

Bluetooth: You can do a lot with Bluetooth on this cell phone. Besides easily being able to connect to a Bluetooth headset (we found call quality was acceptable with the Motorola H500), you can also use it to sync up info (such as contacts, music, and files) between your BlackJack and your Bluetooth-enabled computer.

Design

Look and feel: As far as cell phones with integrated revealed keypads go, the Samsung BlackJack is one of the more attractive models. It’s slim, and its sleek black casing only adds to its slender style. The bright display is downright beautiful and ideal for viewing videos (unfortunately, that activity tends to drain battery life); the screen is also viewable in most lighting situations. The BlackJack uses a rubbery backing similar to the Motorola Pebl's, so it won’t easily slide around on a table and is comfortable to hold in the hand. Admittedly, it is a little awkward to manipulate if you have smaller hands.

Perhaps the best design feature is the inclusion of the BlackBerry-inspired side scrollwheel, which makes navigating the menu and the overall interface a lot easier. However, it is a bit quirky and not nearly as intuitive as we'd prefer. For example, it scrolls up and down through menus with aplomb, but scrolling sideways (left to right) through the taskbar doesn’t work. Instead, you need to navigate that with the 4-way navi-key.

Keypad: The keypad is actually quite tactile and easy to use. However, if you have larger fingers, it will take some acclimation. In particular, you might have a hard time dialing phone numbers at first, but once you get the hang of it, it shouldn’t be a problem.

Battery Life

The Samsung BlackJack's battery performance was mixed, which is probably why you get an extra battery and charger in the box. If you’re using this cell phone more for calls than messaging and other work-centric features, it should last a two days before it needs to be recharged. However, if you want to use the more multimedia-rich applications such as the music player, the camera, or video playback, you’ll need to recharge daily. Additionally, while you can use the included USB cable to recharge your BlackJack via your computer, be sure you don’t wait till the last minute; it will charge the cell phone battery only if the BlackJack is turned on and it won’t turn on if it’s out of power.