Blackjack II by Samsung Review

Okay the move has been complete from the Blackberry Curve (8300) to the Samsung Blackjack II using AT&T service.

This move was a forced move by my employer due mainly to cost. AT&T offering a "can't pass up" deal on getting rid of these phones and now I know why. They're crap!

If you didn't have a smartphone before then you would probably be somewhat impressed. I move pretty quickly through "all" the menus without much hesitation. It's a little too skinny for me which makes it somewhat difficult to hold for someone with big hands. Screen quality is pretty good and that is about all I can say positivly about the phone.

Negative items stack up when reviewing this phone and of course moving from a Blackberry automatically put it in the negative category for functionality.

1. Power and Headset are the same connector and yes its propritary so you have to buy Samsung and no you can't just pull over to any electronics store and get a power adapter. I really dislike it when phone companies use propriatary connectors.

2. Sound quality is absolutly horrible. If you are in a quiet room you may not notice how awful it is. As soon as you go into a room with even the slightest bit of noise, its very difficult to hear the person on the other end, even with the volume cranked all the way up. More volume just amplifies the poor sound quality.

3. Battery life is one day of little to no use. Compared to the Blackberry where I could go several days with normal use. This is mainly because of all the services Windows phones must run to stay alive. Blackberry OS and iPhone users don't have this requirement and have better battery life.

4. Clumsy Menus make you jump through hoops to get anywhere on the phone. You can't create shortcuts to everything, just certain items. The contacts is somewhat difficult to use. You'll find that you are clicking alot to get somewhere to include the speakerphone which is in a menu versus having a button on your phone.

5. Something petty, but the buttons are much more stiff a slightly more difficult to use in comparison to Blackberry phones.

I would recommend staying away from this phone for the main fact of poor sound quality. The most important things on a phone are 1. don't crash like the Windows Phones use to and sometimes still do 2. sound quality is key.. if you can't hear the person you are talking to then why do I have a phone?

Samsung strikes again with a nice looking phone but not so nice parts. There is more to a book then the cover and this one gives a false impression from the cover.