Microsoft

Image Gallery: A look at Windows Mobile 6.1 on the Samsung Blackjack II

By // July 7, 2008, 5:44 PM PST

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  • Blackjack II retail box

    The Samsung Blackjack II has been out for a few months, but will soon be getting an upgrade to Windows Mobile 6.1. I had a chance to use this cool device with the latest operating system and find it to be a very solid and responsive Smartphone.

  • Included manuals and CD

    These guides will help you get started with the Blackjack II and the CD contains ActiveSync and more.

  • T-Mobile Dash, BJ II, and iPAQ 910

    The Dash is a successful non-touch screen device and compares well with the Blackjack II. The new iPAQ 910 is a touch screen device that is a bit larger, but has the same type of front QWERTY keyboard.

  • Back view of three Windows Mobile devices

    Here is a shot of the back of the Dash, BJ II, and iPAQ 910.

  • Close-up of the left side of the keyboard

    The Blackjack II has a very functional QWERTY keyboard. As you can see the keys are hard plastic pieces, but they do have good feedback and are well spaced.

  • QWERTY keyboard

    There are a couple of shortcut keys on the Blackjack II with a handy utility to setup 18 more shortcuts. The keys are well spaced.

  • Bright white backlight on the Blackjack II

    The keyboard is well lit in white and every key and character is easy to see in any lighting condition.

  • Close-up of the keyboard backlight

    Here is a closer shot of the keyboard backlight.

  • Hardware buttons above the keyboard

    You will find the left and right soft keys, send and end buttons, calendar and mail buttons above the keyboard. The directional pad also rotates.

  • Rotating jog wheel navigational control

    The jog wheel actually rotates in a circular manner to move around the display. I haven't gotten used to this type of navigation method so I use it as a standard directional pad on the Blackjack II.

  • Indicator light and Samsung branding

    The indicator light has 7 different available colors and changes depending on the type of notification. The Samsung label shows up in different colors as the device is tilted.

  • Right side of the Blackjack II

    The microSD card slot is on the right side of the device. It supports microSDHC cards, with current capacities up to 32GB.

  • Top of the Blackjack II

    The power button is flush with the top of the device and is adjacent to the speaker grille. The indicator light is on the front of the device in this same area.

  • Left side of the Blackjack II

    There is a volume rocker on the top left with the cover for the Samsung proprietary port below that. You need to use the Samsung port for charging, syncing, and for wired headset connections.

  • 2 megapixel camera on the back

    There is a self-portrait mirror adjacent to the camera lens. The camera actually does a decent job of taking photos.

  • Back of the Blackjack II

    The back is contoured to fit well into your hand and is well designed.

  • Textured back of the Blackjack II

    The back is textured and has a soft almost-leathery feel to it. This adds some unique looks to the device.

  • 1700 mAh battery

    The battery is not that large, but it is quite thick and higher rated capacity than the Blackjack had. It has easily gone through an entire day with fairly heavy usage.

  • Blackjack II in hand

    The device fits very well in your hand and is very pocketable.

  • 910, BJ II, and Dash stacked up

    The iPAQ 910 is a bit thicker than the BJII, but is quite comparable. The Dash is the thinnest device and is a great piece of hardware.

  • Another view of the three stacked devices

    The sizes are comparable.

  • Dash and Blackjack II

    These are two of the best Windows Mobile non-touch screen devices currently available.

  • WM 6.1 Home panel 1

    The upper panel shows the carrier info, time and date.

  • WM 6.1 Home panel 2

    The second panel down shows missed calls, voicemails, text messages, and emails to quickly give you status updates.

  • WM 6.1 Home panel 3

    The third panel down shows you your upcoming appointments and lets you create a new appointment from the Home screen.

  • Getting Started panel

    At first the Getting Started panel appears on your device and after setting everything up you can select to remove it. This panel lets you setup everything you could think of on your device.

  • WM 6.1 Home panel 4

    The Music panel lets you view and play your stored tunes on your device.

  • WM 6.1 Home panel 5

    The Photos panel lets you quickly browse your photos stored on your device.

  • WM 6.1 Home panel 6

    Microsoft gives you access to the most used settings on your device, including Profiles, ringtone selection, background image selection, and more.

  • Contents of the AT&T Music folder

    There are several AT&T services available on the device and most have a monthly service fee.

  • Organizer folder on the Blackjack II

    You will find an Organizer folder with utilities for Alarms, Calculator, D-Day, Notepad (finally the ability to create notes on a non-touch screen device), Smart Converter, Stopwatch, Tasks, Voice Notes, and World Clock. The Tasks and Voice Notes in this folder are Windows Mobile utilities.

  • My Stuff utility

    The My Stuff utility is an advanced file explorer provided by Samsung on your device.

  • Applications folder

    There are a mix of Windows Mobile, Samsung, and AT&T applications on the Blackjack II.

  • FN key settings on the Blackjack II

    This is the first device I have seen that gives you the ability to assign keys on the keyboard to application shortcuts.

  • Setting up keyboard shortcuts

    You get to add up to 18 custom keyboard shortcuts on the Blackjack II.

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Blackjack II retail box

The Samsung Blackjack II has been out for a few months, but will soon be getting an upgrade to Windows Mobile 6.1. I had a chance to use this cool device with the latest operating system and find it to be a very solid and responsive Smartphone.

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