Mobile Quest

Samsung Blackjack Retail Price: $199.99

The Samsung BlackJack is Cingular's second smart phone. UMTS and HSPDA are 3G technologies that enable connection speeds similar to broadband on mobile devices. HSPDA has the potential of transmitting data at up to 14.4mbps, but you will most likely average speeds of around 700kbps. In short, 3G support means the Samsung BlackJack offers a better experience for browsing the Internet, listening to media, and downloading games. This technology is not available everywhere, especially in rural areas. Currently, Cingular's network, Broadband Connect, is available in 136 markets in more than 50 areas.

To get the most out of 3G, the Samsung BlackJack supports Cingular Video and Cingular Music. Using Cingular Video, we watched clips of The Daily Show and a few other videos. Downloads were speedy. Cingular Music is a full featured service that allows you to purchase songs from independent music services, such as Napster and Yahoo. It also includes streaming radio, videos, MusicID, and a music news site called TheBuzz. Unfortunately, not all features of the service were enabled on our review unit, but we were able to listen to satellite radio. Of course, you can import your personal library of files via MicroSD card.

One of the main differences between the Samsung BlackJack and the Cingular 8525 is the operating system. While both phones run Windows Mobile, the Samsung BlackJack utilizes the Smartphone Edition, while the Cingular 8525 utilizes the Pocket PC Phone Edition. As such, you will not get document editing capabilities on the Samsung BlackJack. Instead, you get an application called Picsel Viewer Suite, which allows you to only view Word and Excel documents and PDFs. We were able to open such files with the BlackJack. Other tools include a calendar; contacts lists; task lists; a voice recorder; a calculator; a clock; and a unit converter.

The BlackJack can handle all kinds of e-mail, from corporate to personal. You can access Outlook messages. In addition, push technology for real-time e-mail delivery is available via several different services, including Microsoft Direct Push and Cingular XpressMail. The BlackJack also supports instant messaging as well as multimedia messages.

In the event that you want to actually talk to someone, the BlackJack is also a quad band world phone that can be used in over 180 countries around the world. It also includes a speaker phone, three way calling, as well as conference calling capabilities. Each entry on the address book can accommodate up to twelve different numbers, several e-mail addresses, IM handles, as well as additional details. For caller identification, you can assign each contact to a group ID, one of twenty different ring tones, or a photo. The Samsung Blackjack also supports MP3 ring tones, and you can always download more from the Internet. If you want to use a wireless headset, that is also a possibility; the BlackJack comes with Bluetooth. There is no integrated Wi Fi, which is a bit disappointing, as this would have been a nice addition for those customers residing outside of Cingular's 3G network.

Finally, the price of a Samsung Blackjack cannot be beat! Retailing at $199.99, this very well might be the deal of the year.