Introduction
4.3
Samsung’s BlackJack was a big hit amongst smartphone users in 2007 thanks to its compact candybar form factor, full QWERTY keyboard, and enterprise-friendly Windows Mobile operating system. But BlackJack suffered from a few flaws, inadequate battery life being the biggest offender; most BlackJack users I knew wound up buying an extended battery which all but negated the phone’s sleek body by adding a big ol’ bulge to its backside.
Lucky for business users across America, Samsung seems to have learned from its mistakes. BlackJack II isn’t groundbreaking, but it’s a solid successor that corrects the original’s mistakes and adds a few goodies in the process. Most notably, BJ2’s battery life is much improved, and faster hardware and speedy 3G data access make for noticeably improved productivity.
The new BlackJack is just a little bit thicker and heavier than the original, but it’s still one of the most compact smartphones around - it’s noticeably smaller than the similarly designed Motorola Q9. There’s no touchscreen to be found here, and though I wouldn’t mind a slightly larger display and QWERTY layout, BlackJack users ready for an upgrade will generally find a lot to like in this sequel.
