Samsung Blackjack II Cell Phone Review - Making/Receiving Calls
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Alfredo Padilla Published on December 31, 2007 Comment on this |
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Dialing Speed (6.45)
We found it fairly easy to dial on the Blackjack II, taking an average of only 3.1 seconds to dial our test numbers. You can see below that this is pretty close to the best score amongst our comparison phones. Unlike the original Blackjack all of the number keys are located right next to each other on the QWERTY keyboard, Although the buttons are a little small they are also well differentiated with good key travel and tactile feedback, all of which makes dialing easy. | Cell Phone | Time (sec) | Score |
| Blackjack II | 3.1 | 6.45 |
| Nokia N81 8GB | 3.04 | 6.58 |
| BlackBerry Curve 8320 | 3.16 | 6.33 |
| Palm Centro | 3.62 | 5.52 |
| AT&T Tilt | 5.57 | 3.59 |
| Apple iPhone | 3.96 | 5.05 |
Talk and End Buttons (3.0)
The talk and end buttons on the Blackjack II are similar to those on the first version of the Blackjack in that they are very flat and difficult to differentiate from surrounding control keys. They are rather large, which does help a little, but they are also slick, which pretty much cancels that bonus out. Considering the send and end keys are two of the most used buttons on a cell phone we really don't like phones that make them difficult to use them, no matter how pretty they look.
Call Management (7.0)
The call management features on the Blackjack II are typical Windows Mobile Standard fare. You can filter your call history by missed, incoming or outgoing. Like other Windows Mobile 6 devices there's a nice feature in contacts that allows you to view the call history for each individual contact. During a call the right soft key opens a menu where you can access all of the call features including mute, speaker phone and three-way calling. About the only thing missing is the ability to record the call. As a Windows Mobile smart phone you can of course multi-task and use any of the phone's other features while on a call. Startup to Call (1.82)
Startup to call measures how long it takes for the phone to get going after being turned completely off and then make a call. Continuing in a long tradition of poor performances on this test for Windows Mobile devices the Blackjack II took almost a minute to start up and make a call. You can see below that although other smart phones platforms like the Nokia N81's Symbian Series 60 or the Centro's Palm OS, are also slow none of them are quite as bad as the Windows Mobile devices.
| Cell Phone | Time (sec) | Score |
| Blackjack II | 54.8 | 1.82 |
| Nokia N81 8GB | 33.8 | 2.96 |
| BlackBerry Curve 8320 | 7.12 | 14.04 |
| Palm Centro | 42.66 | 2.34 |
| AT&T Tilt | 64.55 | 1.55 |
| Apple iPhone | 26.12 | 3.83 |
Ring Volume (9.02)
We measured the Blackjack II's maximum ring volume at 90.2 decibels. This is pretty good, most phones fall between 80-90 decibels so the Blackjack II's performance is at the higher end of that curve. You can see below that only the Nokia N81 was louder than the Blackjack II in this test.
| Cell Phone | Volume (decibels) | Score |
| Blackjack II | 90.2 | 9.02 |
| Nokia N81 8GB | 96.1 | 9.61 |
| BlackBerry Curve 8320 | 85.6 | 8.56 |
| Palm Centro | 85.5 | 8.55 |
| AT&T Tilt | 85.7 | 8.57 |
| Apple iPhone | 84.9 | 8.49 |
Ringtone Customizability (2.0)
We were sad to see that unlike many Windows Mobile Standard devices where you can just put a music file in the appropriate "My Sounds" folder to use it as a ringtone the Blackjack II does not allow this, forcing you to use either the built in ringtones or those you pay AT&T for. You can use the voice notes application to record your own ringtones, however.
Non Audio Alerts (10.0)
The Blackjack II has a very good vibration alert, much better than the anemic ones we normally see on phones. You should be able to easily feel it in your pants pocket and you even have a good chance to notice it in a jacket pocket or hear it vibrate when it's in a bag. The on screen alert for a call is also good, taking up the whole screen os it's impossible to miss.
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