Another gadget :P Samsung SGH-i600 a.k.a. Blackjack

For the price of repairing my O2 Xda Mini which committed suicide by drowning, I got an even better phone in the form of the Samsung SGH-i600 a.k.a Blackjack.

The Blackjack is another addition to the Samsung Ultra series of razor thin phones. This concept of razor thin phones was originally pionereed by Motorola Razr V3, but Samsung took it a step further. The Blackjack is known as the Ultra Messaging, so obviously this phone is targetted for heavy push email and SMS users.

So why is it call Blackjack? Samsung was asking in their advertisement, "What if you have all the cards in one hand?" I believe the cards actually mean different connectivity...Bluetooth, WiFi and HSDPA...and also card denotes how slim the phone is.

I've been waiting for the Blackjack for ages since its predecessor; the i320N was available in the market last year. However the i320N lacks WiFi and 3G.

The Blackjack made up for its predecessor shortcoming and adds 0.5 to 3G and yet didn't grow in size.

I feel in love at first sight (and touch hehe...) with the Blackjack and that happened back in December 2006 in ITU World @HK.

The 4-month wait was agonizing; there were lots of temptation from Nokia N95 and the O2 Atom Life. But at almost half the price and half the size, I remain faithful to the Blackjack

It was a scramble to lay my hands on the Blackjack. Singapore is as usual ahead of us; they got it about 2 weeks earlier and those who pre-ordered it by putting down SGD50 deposit during the IT Show there got a free Bluetooth headset and in-car charger. Thinking that it might be out the same time over here, I went to check at Prangin Mall but no signs of the Blackjack yet. The phone sellers favorite reaction is, "i600 what?" So I continue to google everyday using these two key phrases, "Samsung SGH-i600" AND "Malaysia". Finally it appeared on Samsung Malaysia website so I went to look for it again, this time in BJC. The closest I came to it was the Samsung shop at the ground floor who told me yes it's supposedly in, but they don't have it and neither do they know the price. Sigh...

So I went back to the office and think, hey why not call up the sole distributor of Samsung phones in Malaysia? I've tried googling for "Samsung phone distributor Malaysia" and "FMG" but it wasn't a very fruitful search. This time I googled for "First Mobile Group". Apparently FMG is huge, they have got distributor rights for Samsung phones not only in Malaysia but in Australia and other SEA countries.

So I called up FMG, people on the phone there were really polite and helpful. Alas one helpful sales person there - MO, told me that it is indeed available now, but still sitting in the warehouse and waiting to be distributed to the shops. It will probably be out on Monday (4/1 - April Fool Day, no pun intended though) nationwide. But MO says I can get it from FMG that day (Wednesday 3/28).

I couldn't believe it when I asked him how much is the price and he said RM1799! RM1799! An idiot at the Samsung shop in Queensbay Mall quoted me RM1999 for the i320N a week earlier when I asked him for the i600. I told MO that RM1799 is the same price as i320N, why so cheap??? (Some of you may not agree if you focus on absolute figure alone :P) MO says they intent to replace the i320N with the i600. Plus MO told me earlier that it will come with free 1GB Micro SD card a.k.a Transflash.

In Singapore it's selling for SGD898 without contract which works out to be about RM2050. So it's like RM300 cheaper across the Causeway :P Anybody want to start selling AP version of the Blackjack in Singapore? :P

Honestly I think they could have fetched a better price, but at the same time if you compare it with other Windows Mobile Smartphone, it should be around that price. Also remember that our less fortunate friends in the US get the i607 (without WiFi and front camera for video call, plus slightly different UMTS band) at about US$499 without contract. So at the end of the day, it’s a win for consumers like you and me :)

But since my spare phone is really a half-duplex or mono phone, i.e. you can hear me but I cannot hear you and boss is already asking me to get a new phone, I can't wait. Plus I've waited long enough haha. However since I was only back in KL on Friday evening, I've to ask my brother to buy it for me instead, and luckily I have a very nice brother :)

So the Blackjack finally became mine on Friday 3/30. On the same day, Blackjack made its virgin appearance on a Malaysian newspaper - The Star. Samsung was advertising that it came with a free 1GB Micro SD card a.k.a. Transflash, like what MO said.

OK enough of ramblings. Straight to review.

Couple of things will strike you when you first see and hold the Blackjack
- Why so many keys one?
- It's so slim, at 11.8mm, it's half the thickness of the Nokia N95
- It's so light, at about 105gm...It’s 50gm lighter than my old Mini
- Screen is absolutely gorgeous...don't forget that Samsung ODMs display for Sony hehe

Ok let's talk about the keys first.

The i600 has a full QWERTY keyboard. The keys are small, but yet they are protruding so that makes it easier to press. Also since I've fine fingers (because I don't do much house chores and rough work :P), the keys are excellent IMHO.
To switch to numeric, press the 123 key and remember to press it again to go back to alphabets.
To alternate between the top figure and the bottom figure in the same key, ironically you have to press the Fn key and not the Caps/Shift key hehehe.
I also realized that when you are in numeric input mode, pressing @/R will also give you the same effect as pressing the 1/E key. So that should help those with big fingers :)
I have no problems with the 4-way directional key and also the OK button. There are two soft keys, one Home button and one "Return button".

At the left hand side, there's an up and down key to adjust the volume. The slot for USB, earphone and charger is also at the left hand side, and yes some of you may complain that one port for those 3 purposes may be a problem, but I guess that's the only way to keep the phone slim. Oh yeah, it's not your standard mini-USB port, which again will grow the size of the phone.

At the right hand side is the ultra-useful thumbwheel to scroll a list. You can also press it and it would function just like the OK button. A long press will bring up the Quick Launcher.
There's also another Return button below the Jog dial. A long press of the Return button will activate the camera by default, that means you can set it to active other things.
Thus with the combo of the Jog Dial and the side Return button one handed exploration of the phone is possible. Basically one handed operation of the Blackjack is possible but for better ergonomics and faster typing, 2 hands will help.
The Micro SD slot is also at the top right hand side of the phone.

Unlike my Mini, the Blackjack can be powered down. I believe that's one of the main differences between Windows Mobile 5 and Windows Mobile 2003. The power button at the top of the phone also provide shortcut to the Wireless Manager, key and device lock and also for setting the Profile of the phone ala normal phone.

At the back of the phone is the camera with mirror for self portrait and the speaker. The bad thing about the speaker being at the back is that ringing is muffled most of the time if the phone is leaning against a soft surface...like a sofa, or inside your pants :P

The battery cover is at the bottom back of the phone and a few users, including myself, have complained that it's so hard to remove. My suggestion is follow the instruction in the User Guide. I guess this just show how sturdy and how good is the built of the Blackjack.

The back of the phone has a rubbery finish, so it won't slip easily. High quality plastics are used for the body. The screen does attract fingerprint and smudges though, but which phone doesn't?
Now let's go to the display. It's a wide-screen measuring 2.3 inches diagonally. Not as big as any PDA phone and smaller than the 2.6inch Nokia N95, it's good enough for messaging, which includes SMS/MMS and email. As one of the leading display manufacturers in the world, you can be sure that the display is absolutely gorgeous.
The display can also be customized; I absolutely like this particular one that looks like the Windows Vista Premium Aero UI

To give an indication how thin this phone is, I put it next to Motorola SLVR L6 which is a very thin phone. The Blackjack is also not much longer or wider than the L6. You won't have to buy expensive pouch anymore, just slip your Blackjack into your pocket

As for bundled software, there's nothing much. My biggest gripe is the ability to view Microsoft Office documents. Though I know very well that Smartphone doesn't have editing capability, I wasn't prepared for such poor viewing capability either. The bundled Picsel viewer really sucks. What it does, I believe, is that it turns each page of an Office Document into a JPEG file. I uploaded the Blackjack User Guide into the Micro SD card and it's so freaking hard to view, the main challenge is moving to the next page and adjusting the zoom so that the letters become visible :((

My 2nd biggest gripe is that Pocket MSN is not pre-loaded (let me know if yours are) and I've to pay Bill US$19.99 to download it. However there's a Favorite URL to a web-based version of MSN Mobile so you can access Messenger and Hotmail there.

Other bundled software includes Podcast, RSS Reader and OBEX FTP, probably allowing the Blackjack to function like an FTP Server.

Useful utilities include World Clock, for people like me that work with geographically dispersed team, and also currency converter.

I have not managed to see the word H appears on the screen, which indicates 3.5G/HSDPA connectivity. Nor do I have a chance yet to try video calls on the Blackjack.

Establishing WiFi connectivity is pretty easy. However for those that implement ACL on their Wireless Router, the only way to find out the MAC address of the Blackjack, AFAR, is to switch off ACL and let the Blackjack connects to the Wireless Router and find out its MAC address from the Wireless Router status. Of course remember to add Blackjack's MAC address to the ACL and turn ACL on again :P

The Blackjack supports Bluetooth Stereo.

As for the Camera, you can't expect much from a 1.3MP phone camera. More so when you have a Nikon DSLR :P So I shall not review it here.

Performance-wise, I'm pretty happy with it, no significant lag so far. What I really want to do next is to load VoIP software on it. But I read in some of the forums that Skype won't install properly on this phone L So stay tuned

What's in the box
- Handset
- 2 Battery
- Desktop charger
- Travel Charger
- USB Data Cable
- 1GB MicroSD/Transflash
- MicroSD-to-SD adapter
There's no hardcopy of manual cause it's cheaper to burn it into CD which takes up less physical space (read: Ikea flat pack)

It's really nice of Samsung to include 2 batteries, they understand how fast the battery can be sucked up by WiFi. And the desktop charger is also neat (see pic below). The desktop charger is at the lower left hand side of the pic, it has the same type of port as that on the handset - neat design indeed as the power plug can now be used for charging the handset directly or thru the desktop charger


And of course Samsung 18-months warranty, plus it covers damage due to H2O :P

Pros:
- QWERTY Keyboard
- It's so slim, at 11.8mm, it's half the thickness of the Nokia N95
- It's so light, at about 105gm...It’s 50gm lighter than my old Mini
- Screen is absolutely gorgeous...
- Thumbwheel
- 3.5G
- WiFi
- RM1799 with free 1GB MicroSD card

Cons:
- Lack of native Office documents viewer
- No pre-installed Pocket MSN
- No GPS...or you can pay RM1500 more for GPS + Graphics Processor in the form of Nokia N95

In a nutshell:
Seriously I think the only rival for the Blackjack is that computer called Nokia N95, but then they are in a totally different price range, which makes the Blackjack the best in its class (Smartphone, Blackberry, Nokia E61)!