Metis’ Weblog

The Blackjack II is a Windows Mobile smart phone that provides an excellent set of features for a very reasonable price. The Blackjack II resembles a BlackBerry with a landscape oriented display sitting above a QWERTY keyboard. A little thicker than its predecessor it still remains a thin and light device. The Blackjack II is available exclusively from AT&T for $99.99 with a two-year contract.

Many phones that embed their number keys into a QWERTY keyboard have problems with dialing but the well differentiated buttons on the Blackjack II made dialing quick and easy. As a Windows Mobile device the Blackjack II has excellent organizer and call features, this device can act as your PDA as well as your phone. The Blackjack II is also a good business device that integrates with Microsoft’s Exchange Server.

The Blackjack II performed well in our audio tests. There were only very minor issues with the audio sent and received by the handset that most people will never notice. Side tone, the small amount of your own voice you hear through the speaker so you can judge how loud you are speaking, was a tad low, but again shouldn’t be a major issue.

As a multimedia device the Blackjack II is adequate but not as good as an iPhone. Windows Media Player handles music and video playback and does a solid job. You can easily synchronize media with your computer using Windows Media Player on your desktop. The Blackjack II’s camera left much to be desired, producing images with poor resolution and color fidelity.

Running Windows Mobile Standard the Blackjack II provides users with a flexible and powerful operating system, albeit one that has a steep learning curve. Any software shortfalls can be easily addressed with third party application, of which there are thousands available. Web browsing is handled by Internet Explorer Mobile, and although adequate it is not as good an experience as you find on the iPhone or Series 60 devices from Nokia. The interface is fairly responsive, but we did notice lag in some applications.

With an excellent keyboard the Blackjack II is a very good messaging device. We were able to manage an impressive 52.2 words per minute typing with two hands. Outlook mobile also provides solid email support, albeit not quite as good as a BlackBerry device. You can receive push email on the Blackjack II if you have access to an Exchange Server.

The Blackjack II improves on its predecessors poor battery performance, posting better than average talk time at slightly over six hours. Music playback time was adequate at almost eight hours, but web browsing time was a little low at just over four hours. This last is probably due to the power hungry 3G network that is used for data, although it does provide for high speed data downloads.

The Blackjack II is a good choice for world travelers as it not only supports global standards for voice communications but also supports international 3G data protocols in addition to AT&T’s network. The Blackjack II also supports GPS capabilities, although you will need to purchase AT&T’s TeleNav service or invest in alternative GPS software to take advantage of it.

At only $99.99 with a two-year contract the Blackjack II is an excellent value. With advanced PDA features, excellent keyboard and messaging capabilities and solid battery life the Blackjack II should be on the short list of anyone looking for a budget smart phone.

No comment! C.M. Arcketic