Samsung Blackjack II Cell Phone Review - Value & Comparisons
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Alfredo Padilla Published on December 31, 2007 Comment on this |
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Value (9.0)
The Blackjack II is available for a very reasonable $99.99 with a two-year contract exclusively from AT&T. Considering that this is a powerful smart phone with plenty of nice extras like 3G support and GPS functionality this is a great price. Consider that the Palm Centro costs the same but lacks the GPS functionality and the T-Mobile Shadow is $50 and also lacks that functionality. There are few phones on the market that will offer the Blackjack II's feature set for under $100. Those looking for a budget smart phone should give the Blackjack II a good long look.
Comparisons
Nokia N81 8GB - The N81 is a Symbian Series 60 smart phone with a powerful feature set and 8GB of internal storage for your multimedia. It beats out the Blackjack II in terms of storage and has a better web browser, but in almost every other respect the Blackjack II is as good or better, for example the Nokia N81 lacks GPS functionality. Throw in the fact that the N81 is an unlocked phone that will set you back over $600 while the Blackjack II will cost less than on sixth that much if you're signing up for a contract and just over half if you're not and its the clear choice here.
BlackBerry Curve 8320 - The Blackjack II and the Curve 8320 from T-Mobile are very comparable. The Curve is an excellent smart phone running the BlackBerry OS, which is stable and easy to use. The Blackjack II running Windows Mobile Standard has a slightly steeper learning curve and is just a bit more laggy. The Curve 8320 supports Wi-Fi, which the Blackjack II lacks, but on the other hand it doesn't support 3G connectivity and lacks the Blackjack II's GPS support. It's also $150 more expensive than the Blackjack II, so unless the BlackBerry OS is a must for you the Blackjack II is a better value here.
Palm Centro - The Palm Centro is another great value for a smart phone at the same $99 price as the Blackjack II. Unlike the Blackjack II it is running Palm OS and has a touch screen, both of which help make it an easier device to use. That being said the Blackjack II better integrates with business infrastructures like Exchange, although the Centro can sync with an Exchange Server, and has support for GPS. This one's a tough call, we think both are good devices and very good values, it really comes down to which is more important GPS or ease of use.
AT&T Tilt - The Tilt can in some ways be though of as the Blackjack II's big brother, running Windows Mobile Professional that brings more out of the box functionality and a touch screen interface. That being said the difference between the two is actually pretty small, and most of the Blackjack II's shortfalls can be addressed via third part software. Both devices support GPS and both support global 3G roaming. The Tilt is significantly chunkier and although some may find the larger keyboard and touch screen worth the extra size to be compelling enough to go with the larger phone we don't find it so. Throw in the fact that the Tilt goes for $200 more than the Blackjack II and we lean towards the latter.
Apple iPhone - The iPhone and Blackjack II are similar in size, but the similarities end there. The Blackjack II is definitely a button driven device with a full QWERTY keyboard and a plethora of shortcut keys. The iPhone just has a couple of buttons and uses the touch screen interface for the vast majority of functions. The Blackjack II is much better at integrating with business environments but the iPhone trumps the Blackjack II in terms of multimedia functionality and storage. The iPhone also puts up slightly better battery performance but the Blackjack II isn't bad and it supports 3G connectivity that the iPhone lacks. Really it's a matter of trade-offs here, and for many the biggest trade-off is that the iPhone costs four times as much as the Blackjack II.
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